The Persians

The Persians is a darkly funny and profoundly life-affirming debut novel by Sanam Mahloudji. The story follows the Valiat family—once an illustrious “somebody” in Iran, now “nobodies” in America—as they navigate a world fractured by revolution, immigration, and their own tumultuous relationships.

At the heart of the saga is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch who stayed behind in Tehran, occasionally visited by her rule-breaking, party-loving granddaughter, Niaz. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s daughters and other granddaughters have scattered across the U.S.: Shirin, the charismatic, high-flying event planner in Houston; Seema, the dreamy idealist turned suburban housewife in Los Angeles; and Bita, the disillusioned law student in New York.

The family’s fragile, upper-class veneer shatters when an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin lands in jail. This incident forces Shirin to embark on a quest to restore the family name to its former glory—a goal that proves complicated in a country where the Valiats’ lineage holds no sway.

Spanning from 1940s Iran to a splintered 2000s America, The Persians is a witty, brazen, and deeply moving reinvention of the American family saga. It upends expectations while exploring universal questions about love, legacy, money, art, and how to find yourself and each other when your country and identity are lost.