Fiction – Literary – World Literature – Middle East

RELEASE DATE: 11/7/2023 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER’S WAREHOUSE)

A sweeping, propulsive novel about the families we are born into and the families we make for ourselves, in which two brothers struggle to find their place in an Iran on the brink of combusting.

Amid the alleyways of the Zamzam neighborhood of Tehran, a woman lights herself on fire in a desperate act of defiance, setting off a chain reaction of violence and protest. Haunted by the womans death, Issa is forced to confront the contradictions within his own family as his brotherHashem, a prominent queer artist in Tehrans underground, defies theirfather, a skilled martial artist bound to traditional notions of honor and masculinity.

Issa soon finds himself thrown into a circle of people living on the margins of a society at the brink of combusting, negotiating a razor-like code of conduct that rewards loyalty and encourages aggression and intolerance in equal measure. As the city explodes around him, Issa realizes that it is the little acts of kindness that matter most, the everyday humanity of individuals finding love and doing right by one another.

Vibrant and evocative, intimate and intelligent,A Nearby Country Called Loveis both a captivating window into contemporary Iran and aportrait of the parallel fates of a man and his countrya man who acknowledges the sullen and rumbling baggage of history but then chooses to step past its violent inheritance.

AUTHOR BIO:

Salar Abdohwas born in Iran and splits his time between Tehran and New York City. He is the author of the novelsTehran at Twilight,The Poet Game,Opium, andOut of Mesopotamiaand the editor ofTehran Noir. He teaches in the MFA program at the City College of New York.