Bookseller Created
Classic and Contemporary Women Book Club
Bookseller pick
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create accountGift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingThe Stationery Shop
Bookseller recommendation
“The Stationary Shop is a beautifully written novel set in two timelines - 1953 and 2013. It is set in Tehran and the later years in the U.S. Roya and Bahman meet in Mr. Fakhris Stationery Shop. They are in their teens and obviously, favorite patrons of the shopkeeper. Young love soon grows into true love and they become engaged. On the eve of their wedding, they plan to meet in the town square. Meanwhile, the coup d'etat occurs and Bahman pulls a no-show. At least that's what Roya thinks. Sixty years later Roya and Bahman connect again. This book should be accompanied by a case of tissues. It will pull at your heartstrings. The characters are colorful as well as well-rounded. You won't be disappointed in the ending. The narration is stellar.”
Melinda,
Buttonwood Books and Toys
Bookseller recommendation
“I really enjoyed this beautifully written novel that transported me from past to present. The narrative takes you on a bittersweet journey from love to loss amidst a story of strong family bonds. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much in written form because it was so well narrated.”
Christy,
Gottwals Books
Bookseller recommendation
“The Stationery Shop is one of the most beautifully written novels I have read in a long time. The masterful plot brings us to a lost time and culture, but also transcends time and country. In a story set against the upheaval of 1953 Tehran, we discover how events change the destiny of two teenagers who meet in a book and stationery shop and fall in love. This novel of political dreams, family loyalty, lingering memories, love, and fate will haunt you long after the story ends.”
Janet Hutchison,
The Open Door Bookstore
A poignant, heartfelt new novel by the award-nominated author of Together Tea—extolled by the Wall Street Journal as a “moving tale of lost love” and by Shelf Awareness as “a powerful, heartbreaking story”—explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
Marjan Kamali, born in Turkey to Iranian parents, spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran, and the United States. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley, Columbia University, and New York University. Her work has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in two anthologies: Tremors and Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been. An excerpt from The Stationery Shop was published in Solstice Literary Magazine and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut novel Together Tea was a Massachusetts Book Award Finalist, an NPR WBUR Good Read, and a Target Emerging Author Selection. Marjan lives with her husband and two children in the Boston area.