Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Gina B. Nahai
Once again, Gina Nahai has written a beautifully mystical story of the lives of a family of strong Jewish women living under the constraints imposed on Jews in Iran. The story, which takes place shortly before the Iranian revolution in 1979, is narrated by Lili, a young girl whose mother, Roxanna, mysteriously leaves in the middle of the night when Lili is 5 years old. Lili desperately searches for her mother and wonders why she was abandoned at such a young age.
Roxanna the Angel was born under a bad omen in the Jewish ghetto of Tehran. The bad-luck omen has haunted at least one woman in the family for generations. Almost from her birth, her family tried to rid itself of her. Although she marries, the omen haunts her as well and one evening she seems to fly from the balcony of her house on the Avenue of Faith.
The novel uses magical realism to follow Roxanna life, after she leaves her pampered life in Iran, and learns to survive by becoming a prostitute in Istanbul, before escaping to Los Angeles.
Nahai has a gift for combining the turbulent history of Iran with magical women, which has become her signature in several of her novels. Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith delineates the difficulties the Jews of Iran faced during World War II and the Nazi regime, through the difficulties faced during the Shah’s regime, through the days following the Khomeini regime. I am a big fan of Nahai, and this book strengthens my respect for her writing in which she so seamlessly blends fact and fiction and creates unforgettable characters.
Read: January 6, 2010
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