The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, published in 2019, is a novel that spans decades and continents, a powerful tale of star-crossed lovers. In Tehran, 1953, seventeen-year-old Roya is on the brink of her future. Her parents have hopes of her becoming the next Madame Curie or a celebrated author, and though she dreams of doing something, she doesn’t quite know where her future leads. She spends her afternoons reading Rumi and browsing the bookshelves at Mr. Fakhri’s stationery shop, grateful for a place where she can dream in peace. One day, a young man bursts into the shop, charmingly disheveled and filled with purpose; his name is Bahman, and he’s a political activist working in support of Prime Minister Mossadegh. From the moment they lock eyes, an undeniable connection is made, and the two teenagers find themselves swept up into an infatuation that quickly turns into love. However, fate seems set against them, and on the eve of their wedding a political coup takes place in the town square, creating an eddy of violence and confusion that separates the couple indefinitely. Many decades later, Roya, now a retired woman living in New England, chances upon an opportunity to learn what really happened that day in the square and finally close the chapter on her and Bahman’s unfinished love story.

There’s something profoundly classic about this story of love, loss, and fate, and The Stationery Shop feels right at home next to Romeo and Juliet, Persuasion, and The Notebook in my mind’s bookshelf. I fell in love with Roya and Bahman, two trustworthy protagonists, and I appreciated that this romance between two young people feels real and grounded; their feelings for each other make them hopeful but not idealistic, passionate but not insensible. And, even when a traditional lovers’ reunion seems unlikely, I wanted to keep rooting for Roya and Bahman’s individual happiness. With her seamless infusion of the Farsi language, mouthwatering depictions of the saffron-scented food, and enchanting renderings of Tehran’s cafés and markets, Kamali creates a sense of place that engages all of the senses. Her writing style, too, feels like an homage to Persian culture in the way she engages with poetry and metaphor. The Stationery Shop offers both a bigger picture of a country’s history as well as a smaller picture of a couple’s love story, and I loved both in equal measure.

I’d recommend this book to…

• Anyone who loves when entertaining fiction engages with history… it’s similar in style to Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah
• Anyone looking for a deeply moving, perceptive novel… it’s similar in tone to A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
• Anyone who believes in the enduring power of love… it’s similar in theme to The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks