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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
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THE DRUM TOWER

Farnoosh Moshiri

A beautifully written and poignant tale of a teenage girl whose privileged life is turned upside down when she starts to discover her family secrets and when the political turmoil around her leads her to flee war-torn Tehran. It takes place in 1979 Iran and concerns the destruction and hopes of an Iranian family and the whole country during the revolution. Moving and insightful, the novel is a testament to the absurdities of war and the tenacity of those who survive it.
The Drum Tower is Farnoosh Moshiri's fourth work of fiction concerned with the deleterious effects of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This novel, told by a mentally ill, 16-year-old girl, depicts the fall of Drum Tower, the house of a family descended from generations of War Ministers. Rich in characters-Talkhoon, who struggles to control the winds she hears inside her head and who tells the story; Assad, a man made evil by his love for her; Anvar Angha, Talkhoon's grandfather who has devoted his life to writing a book about the Simorgh (the mythical bird of knowledge; the Persian Phoenix) but never completes it; Soraya, Talkhoon's mother, whom we never meet but about whom myriad and contradictory stories abound-and rich in family secrets.

This novel chronicles the early days of the revolution, the ruthlessness and opportunism of the competing factions, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard, the chaos and murder in the streets of Tehran, the arrests and executions, as experienced by the members of this family. The Drum Tower may be compared, favorably, to Gone with the Wind. It has already won two Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Fiction Awards and a Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction.

Farnoosh Moshiri was born into a literary family in Tehran. She was playwright in Tehran when the 1979 revolution broke out. When the authorities brought together Tehran's playwrights, actors, and others connected with the theater and demanded they agree to write and produce only plays the authorities approved of, Moshiri refused. Eventually she was able to make her way to the U.S. She has won several awards for her fiction, including a Barthelme Fellowship and two Barbara Deming awards.
Available products
Book

Published 2014-10-01 by Sandstone Press

Book

Published 2014-10-01 by Sandstone Press

Comments

Farnoosh Moshiri is Iran’s Solzhenitsyn.

Dark humour and keen emotional insight.

It is beautifully written and the author's creation of a mythology around the family adds depth and complexity to the relationships between the characters.

Family secrets, letters to a ghost father, and the Simorgh, or mythical Bird of Knowledge, inspire this lyrical tale set in Tehran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution. When bitter, resentful matriarch Khanum-Jaan deems her 16-year-old granddaughter, Talkhoon, to be insane, she banishes her to the basement of Drum Tower, the family's estate. Talkhoon spends her days avoiding the lustful advances of her uncle Assad, grieving her beloved Baba-Ji’s comalike state, and contemplating her mother’s mysterious, long-ago disappearance and her father’s preference for political activism over taking care of his daughters. Talkhoon’s only sources of comfort derive from the memories of Baba-Ji’s obsessive writings about the Simorgh and the sweet, hypnotizing songs of her sister’s setar from her rooftop room: “Taara’s melodies and the soothing silence between them rippled in my dark head like the repeating wavelets of the calm sea.” When Talkhoon finally escapes, she comes upon a country in chaos, in the midst of revolution: “When the narrow alley opened onto a wide street, we saw the tanks approaching. Their metal bodies were muddy and they crawled toward us like legless animals, seemingly intent on rolling over us.” In the shadows of the streets of Tehran, Talkhoon and her sister must find a way to forge a new life, free from the talons of ancestral spirits, their family’s calculating lies and the menacing nights of a country tearing at the seams. Moshiri (Creative Writing/Univ. of Houston-Downtown; Against Gravity, 2006, etc.) weaves her striking narrative with camphor-scented dreams, wish-granting poems and the twilight ritual of the sapphire feather, creating an intricate, unforgettable tapestry. Read more...

US: Black Heron Books