Penguin Reading Lolita In Tehran

'That room, for all of us, became a place of transgression. What a wonderland it was!'

Every Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby andPride and Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams and hopes with each other, and, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi's bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transforming power of books, the magic of words and the search for beauty in life's darkest moments.

'I was enthralled and moved.' Susan Sontag