The Daughter Who Walked Away by Kimia Eslah

Words Worth is very happy to welcome Kimia Eslah in store, bringing her debut novel, The Daughter Who Walked Away.

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Estranged from her abusive parents as a teenager, Taraneh Pourani overcame poverty, isolation and self-hatred to build a happy home with her loving husband and children. Triggered by her young sons’ annual visit with their grandparents, Taraneh becomes psychologically distressed. She begins to doubt her memories and question her decision to remain distanced from her aging parents.

A journey into Taraneh’s family history reveals three generations of unaddressed mental illness and unresolved childhood trauma. Due to poverty in early twentieth-century Iran, Taraneh’s grandmother, Batoul, is married at the age of nine and sent to live with her husband’s family. Ashamed and traumatized, Batoul raises her children to expect hardships and to endure them in secret. The seeds of dysfunction are planted in Mojegan, Taraneh’s mother. Mojegan is a nurse in Tehran in the 1960s when she marries the charming, but alcoholic and impulsive, Reza. She stands by Reza throughout their marriage, even after he abruptly kicks out their teenage daughter, Taraneh.

A powerful and beautiful debut novel by Kimia Eslah, The Daughter Who Walked Away explores the lives of three Iranian women, across three generations, as they struggle to love and be loved unconditionally.

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Kimia Eslah is a feminist, queer writer who lives in Ontario, Canada. As a teen, she produced and distributed the dissident and critically acclaimed zine Muff Divers. Professionally, she created innovative programming and resources for BlackBerry, Conestoga College, the ywca and the Grand River Institution for Women. She writes fiction that speaks to the intersection of race, gender, class and sexuality. Kimia wrote her first story in the third grade for Valentine’s Day, and it included a heart-shaped maze.

Kimia will be in store on Thursday November 21, from 5pm to 7pm.