Island of Bewilderment

Twenty-six-year-old college graduate, artist, and employee of the Ministry of Art and Culture, Hasti Nourian aspires to be a "new woman"independent-minded, strong-willed, and in control of her own destiny. A destiny that includes Morad, an idealistic young architect and artist with whom Hasti is deeply in love. Morad is a sharp critic of Irans Westernized bourgeois class, the one that Hastis mother relishes. After Hastis father died, her mother married a wealthy businessman and moved to an exclusive neighborhood of northern Tehran. Socializing with a mixed group of Americans, English-speaking Iranians, and British expats, her mothers life revolves around gym visits, hairdressers, and party planning. When her mother persuades Hasti to join her at the spa, she introduces her to Salim, an eligible young man from a wealthy family whose British education and proper comportment, as well as his economic status make him an ideal suitor for Hasti in her mothers eyes. Against her better judgment, Hasti finds herself attracted to Salim and tempted by her mothers comfortable lifestyle. As the novel unfolds, Hasti is torn between her first love and the radical politics of her university friends, and love for her mother and the freedom economic security can bring. Set in Tehran in the mid-1970s, just a few years before the 197779 revolution, Daneshvars unforgettable novel depicts the tumultuous social, cultural, and economic changes of the day through the intimate story of a young womans struggle to find her identity.