I didn't know anything about this book ... just found it on the library shelf and picked it out. Turned out it was a beautifully written, and quite sad, story set in England and Iran. Even though it was fiction, I can imagine a person feeling displaced when they are suddenly left to build their life in a different culture. Good book for a book club discussion. ( )

Returned to the library as I couldn't face another first-person book. But it's probably good and I might try again another time.

The Saffron Kitchen is the debut novel of author Yasmin Crowther. It is a family story that follows both a mother and a daughter, the first as she faces her trauma and finds peace in her beloved country of Iran, the other as she comes to an understanding about her mother and their difficult relationship.

Maryam Mazar was born and raised in a small village in Iran, but for the last forty years has been living in a suburb of London. Her life is comfortable and secure but when an event triggers her memory of an event that caused her to run away from Iran, she realizes that in order to heal, she must return to Iran. She basically leaves her husband and her daughter, who has also just suffered a traumatic event and returns to face her past. While daughter Sara, and husband Edward feel abandoned and confused, Maryam feels reborn. Only when Sara herself travels to Iran and confronts her mother’s past can the two women begin to heal their relationship.

This was an interesting story about culture, family and identity. Personally I never quite reached an understanding of Maryam so didn’t have a lot of sympathy for her. Parts of the story were very compelling while others felt a little flat. The author’s descriptions of Iran are evocative but the actual story left many questions unanswered. ( )

It seems like I read this book years ago! But in fact, it was just two months ago. I have slipped into my "can't finish a book I start" phase. Thankfully I did finish Yasmin Crowther's The Saffron Kitchen.

Nothing exceptional about this book really. To me I felt it was more an effort to include Iran in the story and therefore garner the attention of those "Oh! I love the exotic dangerous Middle East!" types who would read anything that mentions Ali in a book. The story was simple : at the beginning Sara suffers a miscarriage after her mother Maryam's violent outburst against Saeed. Maryam runs off to her beloved Iran leaving her British husband behind and rediscover her old love Ali.

The writing is lyrical and it is Yasmin Crowther's maiden venture. So keeping that in mind, the book is not tedious at any stretch. However, I felt that the most interesting part of the book was Maryam herself, and her relationship with Ali in Iran. The rest of the drama - the troubled mother-daughter relationship was painfully wrought out, and ended in a bizarre snowed-out scenario that puts Sara, Ali and Maryam in the same place, and they are forced into acknowledging the truths of the past. By then, you could almost guess what the truths and mysteries were, and have reached the point where you just want to finish the book because it should not end up being another on the "to be completed" shelf.
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A resounding 'eh'. ( )