A couple months later, Roya and Bahman are to be married, and just before they are supposed to meet, the coup d’etat occurs that changes Iran forever. And Bahman never shows up. Their love and relationship was so beautiful and adorable. I was in love with them from the moment they were stealing glances at eachothers in the stationary shop to the very end. The letters and how they were always in each other mind even after so many years 🥹 how bahman kept calling her roya joon ( which means the essence of his life and soul 😭🫶🏻). Their love for eachothers never stopped. i love them 🫶🏻🫶🏻 Some things stay with you, haunt you. Some embers nestle into your skin. Shots cannot be forgotten. And neither can that force of love.”

This was a historical fiction novel that took place during the 1953 political uprising in Tehran, Iran. Roya and Bahman meet in Mr. Fakhri's stationery shop, a favorite place for them both. After falling in love against all odds, they plan to meet in secret and marry, but when that day comes, Roya finds that Bahman doesn't show. There is commotion in the square, and great tragedy strikes. Roya and Zari have very different personalities and ways of looking at life, and the two sisters often argue and clash. But there is a bond between them that is unbreakable. Have you experienced that simultaneous closeness and clashing with siblings in your life? What do you think it is about the sibling relationship in general and Roya and Zari’s sisterhood in particular that lends itself to such contradictions?” Is it true that your book was inspired by an elderly man you met in an assisted living center who had met Spanish royalty and traveled with Charles de Gaulle? Five lyrical, heart-wrenching/ripping/breaking into pieces, soul shaking, perception changing, revolutionary, magical, eternal love stars! 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.This book left me sobbing as it ended. There's too many times where you would want to hug each of these characters and tell them everything was going to be okay when it actually wasn't. The Stationery Shop is a beautiful and timely exploration of devastating loss, unbreakable family bonds, and the overwhelming power of love. During the summer of 1953, a couple fell in love. Roya and Bahman were 17 years old. Both bright educated students. They were engaged to be married. It was 1953. It was summer. She was seventeen. New England melted away, and the cold outside and the false heat inside evaporated, and Roya’s legs were tanned and toned, and they were standing, she and he, by the barricades, leaning onto the splintered wood, screaming at the top of their lungs. The crowd billowed, the sun burned her scalp, two long braids ended at her breasts, her Peter Pan collar was soaked in sweat. All around them, people pumped their fists and cried as one. Anticipation, the knowing of something new and better about to arrive, the certainty that she would be his in a free, democratic Iran—it was all theirs. They had owned a future and a fate, engaged in a country on the verge of a bold beginning. She had loved him with the force of a blast. It had been impossible to imagine a future in which she didn’t hear his voice every day. It's a story about loss and grieving; regrets and guilt; political unrest and suffering; acceptance and forgiveness.

The minute I heard my first love story,I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.They’re in each other all along.” Misunderstanding, miscommunication and a mental health issue of an important character played a major role leading to heartbreaking events. However, I find this book so damn satisfying to read. It feels complete and soothing for something this sad and heartbreaking. There has been so many deaths of which I find the dead of kids to be most disturbing and sad.

This was what it was to be a woman, she knew. She was already pushing boundaries by even insisting on working. And in science there was always the assumption that she would be taking the job from a well-qualified man. And as a foreigner – well, shouldn’t she just be grateful to be in this country?” Rolls of toilet papers, napkins, paper towels, anything helping you out to clean the nasty evidence of your ugly cries! I felt incredibly sad for people who worked hard for good changes in the world, but then saw themselves as failures, or worse....dead.

Mr. Fakhri introduces Roya to his other favorite customer, Bahman, with hopes love will develop. Bahman is also an idealist with a yearning for change. They are an instant match and continue to visit the shop together. This is historical fiction done right! The Stationery Shop is the beautifully told story of Roya Kayhani, a 17-year old lover of Persian poetry and Bahman Aslan, an energetic young man already known as a political activist. The two meet in Mr. Fakhri’s stationery shop and begin to fall in love. Despite the objections of Bahman’s class-conscious mother, they become engaged. Their passionate romance is set against the political passions of 1953 Iran. Roya and Bahman decide to marry and arrange to meet, but a coup d’état against Mossadegh causes chaos in Tehran and Bahman does not show. Heartbroken, Roya decides to go to college in America where she meets and marries a young Boston law student and settles down. Sixty years later, she discovers that Bahman is a resident in a nursing home nearby. Roya decides to visit him and finally piece together the truth about their ill-fated story.I learned something about Iranian politics and how the 1953 coup d'etat changed this country's future. Also, the love and care that went into the Persian cuisine featured in this book had me salivating; and, Devastated Roya, decides to go to the US for college education and fresh start for her broken heart with her sister. Please come,” Claire said softly. “I’ll take you right to him.” This time she didn’t add the obligatory exclamation mark that seemed necessary for covering up misery around here.