Pomegranate Soup: A Novel [Hardcover]

Marsha Mehran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2005

Beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick, in damp and lovely County Mayo, sits the small, sheltered village of Ballinacroagh. To the exotic Aminpour sisters, Ireland looks like a much-needed safe haven. It has been seven years since Marjan Aminpour fled Iran with her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla, and she hopes that in Ballinacroagh, a land of “crazed sheep and dizzying roads,” they might finally find a home.

From the kitchen of an old pastry shop on Main Mall, the sisters set about creating a Persian oasis. Soon sensuous wafts of cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron float through the streets–an exotic aroma that announces the opening of the Babylon Café, and a shock to a town that generally subsists on boiled cabbage and Guinness served at the local tavern. And it is an affront to the senses of Ballinacroagh’s uncrowned king, Thomas McGuire. After trying to buy the old pastry shop for years and failing, Thomas is enraged to find it occupied–and by foreigners, no less.

But the mysterious, spicy fragrances work their magic on the townsfolk, and soon, business is booming. Marjan is thrilled with the demand for her red lentil soup, abgusht stew, and rosewater baklava–and with the transformation in her sisters. Young Layla finds first love, and even tense, haunted Bahar seems to be less nervous.

And in the stand-up-comedian-turned-priest Father Fergal Mahoney, the gentle, lonely widow Estelle Delmonico, and the headstrong hairdresser Fiona Athey, the sisters find a merry band of supporters against the close-minded opposition of less welcoming villagers stuck in their ways. But the idyll is soon broken when the past rushes back to threaten the Amnipours once more, and the lives they left behind in revolution-era Iran bleed into the present.

Infused with the textures and scents, trials and triumph,s of two distinct cultures, Pomegranate Soup is an infectious novel of magical realism. This richly detailed story, highlighted with delicious recipes, is a delectable journey into the heart of Persian cooking and Irish living.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beautiful strangers bring exotic recipes to town in Mehran's foodie-lit debut. The Irish hamlet of Ballinacroagh is the unlikely new home for three Iranian sisters and their new Babylon Cafe. Twenty-seven-year-old Marjan, the most skilled in the kitchen; Bahar, the tentative middle sister; and Layla, the charming teenager, fled the Iranian revolution and, after some years in London, have arrived determined to succeed. Initially wary natives soon fall under the spell of the cafe's cardamom- and rosewater-scented wonders, with kindly Estelle Delmonico (the stereotyped Italian widow who formerly owned the storefront) and friendly Father Mahoney leading the pack. But town bully Thomas McGuire, who loathes "feckin' foreigners," and gossip Dervla Quigley, who thinks "they're all sluts," will do anything to drive the sisters away. As Marjan cements alliances through her recipes and Layla falls in love with McGuire's son, Bahar continues to be troubled by the violence in her past. Can the provincial Irish welcome the "foreigners"? Will the sisters triumph? But of course! Mehran's mauve prose gets especially purple sometimes (Layla feels love "like the ecstatic cries of a pomegranate as it realized the knife's thrust"), but fans of Chocolat and other cooking-overcomes-cultural-differences stories will savor the tale, not to mention the 13 recipes, including one for pomegranate soup. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The three Aminpour sisters escape the Iranian Revolution and make their way west to a small Irish village. There they pursue a well-worn path to assimilation by taking over an abandoned Italian bakery and opening the Babylon Cafe. It takes a while to win over the insular townsfolk, but they manage to make a success of their restaurant, charming even the local priest. They never do span the gulf separating them from Thomas McGuire, owner of the town pub, who sees the sisters as business rivals as much as cultural aliens. The smells of cardamom, fenugreek, and saffron wafting over the town lure locals away from McGuire's bland pub fare, so he plots to shutter their interloping restaurant. To give the reader a better appreciation for the pivotal role of food in the novel, Mehran includes recipes for some Iranian specialties: stuffed grape leaves, elephant ear pastries, and the title's pomegranate soup. Stark contrasts between the sisters' lives in Iran and Ireland and between the Irish and Persian cultures energize Mehran's tale. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Random House (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400062411
• ISBN-13: 978-1400062416
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Tehran, Iran, Marsha Mehran escaped the Revolution with her family. She has since lived in such diverse places as Buenos Aires, The United States, Australia and Ireland.

Her first novel, Pomegranate Soup, was published in 2005, to great acclaim, gaining international bestseller status. It's sequel, Rosewater and Soda Bread, was published in 2008. She is busy at work spinning more tales.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pomegranate Soup, yum!, September 12, 2006

By 

M. E. Sweeney "Senior Editor, www.microcosmaq... (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pomegranate Soup: A Novel (Paperback)

I read "Pomegranate Soup," by Marsha Mehran, and found it far deeper and wider than I ever expected given the youth and beauty of the lady pictured on the fly-leaf. As I closed the cover, I had to wonder: "How is it that she still looks like a baby, as if nothing has ever hurt her?" Marsha writes of a little family of three sisters, Iranian ex-pats who land in the west of Ireland, find it pleasing, and open an ethnic restaurant.

From the kitchen, they practice their exotic culinary skills and spy the true nature and spirit of the place, the scent of the air, the curious customs and peccadilloes of the people, and from this haven crafted a story that could amuse and even satisfy, but is not quite as simple as it looks at the start. In telling us her own story, which is cleverly entwined with the exotic and remarkable cuisine of her homeland, she reveals herself to be a gifted writer, an astute observer of human nature, and an authentic participant in living history with a little more family history than immediately meets the eye. And then there is another thing, something else, a dark underside, a secret, the truth of the sisters' exodus from their homeland.

"Pomegranate Soup" at times reads a little like "Ballykissangel," (Dervla Quigley?) but which is no harm. The little threads of pop culture help define time and place, and if the author has borrowed a little to help plump up the prose and fill in the gaps, well, it's no harm and indeed makes the story quite accessible. The impressions of Ireland and the Irish nature accrued by Ms. Mehran are truthful and fearless, and often seem quite innocent, especially when contrasted to the private sorrow that the sisters share. There's very little time in this story for television watching, but still there are some small signals that indeed Marsha is fond of "Ballykiss" and which radio station she listened to (Mid-West Irish Radio, which indeed can be reached over the Internet at www.midwestirishradio.com), and this has made "Pomegranate Soup" more endearing if anything. And then, there's mention of a little bridge in Dublin that I know I have crossed more than once.

"Pomegranate Soup" is a cookbook of life. In it you will find huge love and huge courage, which when heated and stirred make a unique and remarkable story well worth reading. The recipes are all authentic, and purely Persian, truly exotic and delicious fare for the west of Ireland, and then, exactly the right thing, because if there's one thing that's very clear in reading "Pomegranate Soup," it's on how many points the sisters and their new neighbors share the same heart and tastes. As for the secrets, well, you must read about them for yourselves. I trust myself with secrets.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WELCOME TO THE BABYLON CAFE, January 19, 2008

By 

Red Rock Bookworm (St. George Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pomegranate Soup: A Novel (Paperback)

As with all first novels, comparisons to previously published works are sure to be made. Some reviewers view this novel as an Iranian version of Chocolat ( which is a fair enough assessment) since both books celebrate the pleasure and magical qualities of food.

The year is 1980 and the three Aminpour sisters, have escaped Iran's revolution and settled in a small Irish village intent on opening a business and building a new life. With her savory recipes and personable characters, Mehran cooks up an intoxicating concoction that transports the reader back in time to an Ireland that has not yet been urbanized. She manages to capture the simple wisdom of free spirited, nurturing and tolerant women unknowingly drawn into conflict with an egotistical, overbearing, repressive man. It is a novel of opposites.....good versus evil, sour versus sweet, cold versus hot, acceptance versus rejection.

In addition, the author shares eleven treasured recipes and intertwines them into this tale of family, friends and food. You might say that this is the original "fusion cuisine".

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book guaranteed to please your senses, October 11, 2005

By 

Gale Zasada "www.brownbookloft.com" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pomegranate Soup: A Novel (Hardcover)

For many years, Papa's Pastries shop provided the citizens of Ballinacroagh, Ireland with the tantalizing scents of freshly baked breads and sweets. When Papa Delmonico passed away, his wife, Estelle, unable to manage the shop alone with her arthritis, closed its doors and retreated to her home at the edge of town. The shop remained empty for many years. The paint faded and chipped. The plastic cloths melted into the table tops. Dust gathered on the floor and the windows grew dim from disinterest.

The Aminpour sisters were forced to leave their native Iran and need to make a new life for themselves. The oldest sister, Marjan, turns to what she knows best-cooking-and decides to open an Iranian Café. Fate and family connections bring them to Ballinacroaugh, a town that sits at the base of the mountain where St. Patrick prayed, fasted and blessed the people of Ireland. Traditions run strong and deep in Ballinacroagh. When this trio of mysterious dark skinned women drive into town in an old hippie bus and re-open the former Pastry shop as the Babylon Café, tongues start wagging.

Marsha Mehran's debut novel is astonishing for a new writer. She delivers the thoughts, motives and emotions of her characters with the crisp pungency of a Middle Eastern bazaar. I can't remember when I last felt compelled to read a book in a single sitting, but I absolutely could not put it down. I vow that I will rush to get on the waiting list for the next book by this talented author.