Persian brides
Subtitle: a novel
By: by Dorit Rabinyan ; translated from the Hebrew by Yael Lotan.
Contributors: Lotan, Yael, 1935-
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: George Braziller
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 236
Subjects: Villages -- Iran -- Fiction.; Jews -- Iran -- Fiction.; Jews -- Social life and customs -- Fiction.; Iran -- Fiction.
Description: Set at the turn of the century in the fictional Persian village of Omerijan, Persian Brides tells the magical story of two young girls - Flora and Nazie Ratoryan - and their many neighbors in the almond tree alley in Omerijan where they live.

Fifteen-years-old, pregnant, and recently abandoned by her cloth-merchant husband, Flora longs desperately for the return of her unborn baby's father. Nazie consoles and pities her, and though she is still only a child of eleven, she yearns - just as desperately - for her own future marriage. Although the narrative spans only two days, it branches out and back, encompassing the lives and histories of many of Omerijan's inhabitants.

A blend of fantasy and reality, the narrative forcefully conveys shocking cruelties endured by many of the characters while at the same time weaving a modern-day Arabic legend where snakes offer jewels in exchange for milk and death is thwarted by appeasing the village demons.