A “fierce literary thriller” about an exiled woman confronting her past as a prisoner of a repressive theocracy (Kirkus Reviews).
She was known as “Bait 455,” the most famous prisoner in a ruthless theological republic. He was one of the colonels closest to the supreme commander. When they meet, years later, far from their country of birth, a strange, equivocal relationship develops between them. Both their shared past of suffering and old romantic passions come rushing back—accompanied by recollections of the perverse logic of violence that dominated the dictatorship under which they lived.
French Iranian author Fariba Hachtroudi’s prize-winning, “tightly plotted” novel “packs complex emotions in a small space, tackling difficult and essential questions about power and our responsibilities to one another” (Kirkus Reviews).
“The story leaves us chilled by the tyrannical culture that created this macabre bond. But at the end, it’s just as much a tale of the capacity of love.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Timeless in its meditations on totalitarianism and the toll it takes on even those who physically escape its clutches.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)
Fariba Hachtroudi decided to leave her home country following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After relocating to Sri Lanka in 1981, she taught at the University of Colombo for two years and studied Teravada Buddhism. Hachtroudi then pursued journalism and eventually went on to write a full-length non-fiction account about her revisit to Iran after 30 years in exile called The Twelfth Imam's a Woman? In addition to writing, Hachtroudi also leads a foundation that advocates for women's rights, education, and secularism.Alison Anderson's translations for Europa Editions include novels by Sélim Nassib, Amélie Nothomb, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. She is the translator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008) and The Life of the Elves (Europa, 2016) by Muriel Barbery.