Shadows and Walls

Tahirih is a young, uneducated but highly curious woman living in late 19th century Persia where 90% of the population is illiterate. This is her story - as a wife, mother, daughter and friend - but most importantly as someone learning about herself while she awakens to her own perceptions of the world around her. When Tahirih defies her husband's prohibition on learning to read, she must deal with overwhelming consequences that tear her life apart. Throughout the story, Tahirih is forced to blend her own needs with those of others and to choose in seemingly impossible situations. Above all, she must keep going when the world has battered her down one too many times. Shadows and Walls takes the reader from small villages to a city bazaar to the Shah's palaces, and the cast of characters includes merchants, mullahs, ambassadors, the Shah and several of his sons, the women who support (and sometimes deceive)their men and the servants who take care of them all.