From the international bestselling author of The Book of Fate comes the story, based on real events, of a four-year-old boy who cannot speak and the shame it brings upon his family in modern-day Iran.

Four-year-old Shahaab has not started talking. The family doctor believes there is no cause for concern; nevertheless, Shahaab is ridiculed by others who call him “dumb.” Young Shahaab doesn’t understand what the word means and thinks it is a compliment, until one day his cousin plays a trick on him to prove to everyone that the boy truly is the neighbourhood idiot.

When his mother recounts the incident to her husband, Shahaab is crushed to learn that his father also thinks the boy’s speech impediment indicates that his son is an idiot and thus brings shame on the family. He begins to lash out, taking childish revenge on those around him, encouraged by his two imaginary friends, Esi and Bibi. No one in the family can understand Shahaab’s wild behaviour except his maternal grandmother, who seems to possess the understanding and the kindness he so desperately craves. Their growing bond leads to a deep friendship in which Shahaab is able to experience some happiness and finally find his voice.

Parinoush Saniee is a sociologist and psychologist. She was formerly manager of the research department at the Supreme Coordination Council for Technical and Vocational Education in Iran.  She has written several novels, of which The Book of Fate is the first; The Father of the Other One, her second novel, has also been published to great acclaim in Iran. Her other books are awaiting approval by the censorship board.

Parinoush Saniee's profile page

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Saniee skillfully integrates concepts and theories about the psychology of the child and demonstrates how easy it is to cause, as parents, irremediable damages to a child, but also how easy it is not to cause them…. Shahaab is not only a child who confronts a difficulty, his muteness is in fact that of a nation terrorized by a harsh regime…

The Cultural Supplement

I would recommend this book to any parent as a compulsory reading, especially to those who have more than one child. I would recommend it to a father so he can better understand what happens in the soul of his child … The novel reveals two voices: Shahab and his mother; they bring to light the pain of the sensible and imaginative child, the pain of a mother who feels the truth and struggles with an absent father whose only desire is to work.

Sunday Journal