About the Book
In Persia in 1924, when a child still had to worry about hostile camels in the bazaar and a nanny might spin stories at her pillow until her eyes fell shut, the extraordinary and irresistible Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian was born. From the enchanted basement storeroom where she played as a girl to the penthouse high above New York City where she would someday live, this is the delightful and inspiring story of her life as an artist, a wife and mother, a collector, and an Iranian. Born an adventurer and a tomboy, Monir describes a childhood spent getting into scrapes and dreaming up improbable destinies. We see the mischievous girl become a spirited young woman defiant of tradition: traveling to America during World War II; training as an artist; escaping a disastrous marriage; and learning to support herself and her baby before Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian, an Iranian of royal descent, whisks her back to Tehran for her second wedding. Home again and happily married, Monir discovers the neglected folk arts of far-flung regions and explores her own creative impulse, in which traditional Iranian forms reveal surprisingly modern possibilities. She throws marvelous parties and delights in road trips in the decades before the revolution forces her to leave everything behind and begin a new life in New York. An enchanting love story, a compelling portrait of the creative spirit, and a celebration of the warmth and grace of Iranian culture, A Mirror Garden is also a genuine fairy tale whose exuberant heroine has never needed rescuing--for by embracing experience, she has always charmed her own life.
Review :
"Captivating . . . Sumptuously detailed."
--Megan O'Grady, "Vogue"
""A Mirror Garden" introduces the captivating story of a unique artist. Monir's art is beguiling, and so is the story of how she came to be a creator and collector of beautiful things."
-Her Majesty Queen Noor
"This thought-provoking, heartbreaking, delightful memoir spirits us across the battlefield of today's headlines into a kaleidoscopic landscape of Iran in all its magical richness. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian boldly follows her dream of becoming an artist in the West before following love back to a new Iran. Like a Persian Audrey Hepburn, she recounts her adventures among boorish fanatics, elegant spies, celebrities, and, best of all, her own eccentric family, with a combination of plainspoken pluck and grace under pressure that is inspiring and irresistible."
--Tom Reiss, author of "The Orientalist"
"Some people have the magic touch. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian seems to be one of them . . . Full of many delightful anecdotes . . . "A Mirror Garden" is a story about the different aspects of one person--a woman who is a wife, a mother and an artist . . . It is also a timeless and very timely memoir of home and self-identity."
--June Sawyers, Sa"n Francisco Chronicle"
"This graceful memoir maps an intrepid trajectory."
--"The New Yorker"
"She has not allowed the past to either trap her in nostalgia or corner her into defensive bitterness. In every world she has traveled, she has never been petty . . . She labels one of her photographs . . . "A Woman in Full." The reader will come away from these pages agreeing wholeheartedly."
--Roger Gathman, "Austin American-Statesman"
" Captivating . . . Sumptuously detailed."
-- Megan O' Grady, "Vogue"
" "A Mirror Garden" introduces the captivating story of a unique artist. Monir' s art is beguiling, and so is the story of how she came to be a creator and collector of beautiful things."
- Her Majesty Queen Noor
" This thought-provoking, heartbreaking, delightful memoir spirits us across the battlefield of today' s headlines into a kaleidoscopic landscape of Iran in all its magical richness. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian boldly follows her dream of becoming an artist in the West before following love back to a new Iran. Like a Persian Audrey Hepburn, she recounts her adventures among boorish fanatics, elegant spies, celebrities, and, best of all, her own eccentric family, with a combination of plainspoken pluck and grace under pressure that is inspiring and irresistible."
-- Tom Reiss, author of "The Orientalist"
" Some people have the magic touch. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian seems to be one of them . . . Full of many delightful anecdotes . . . "A Mirror Garden" is a story about the different aspects of one person-- a woman who is a wife, a mother and an artist . . . It is also a timeless and very timely memoir of home and self-identity."
-- June Sawyers, Sa"n Francisco Chronicle"
" This graceful memoir maps an intrepid trajectory."
-- "The New Yorker"
" She has not allowed the past to either trap her in nostalgia or corner her into defensive bitterness. In every world she has traveled, she has never been petty . . . Shelabels one of her photographs . . . " A Woman in Full." The reader will come away from these pages agreeing wholeheartedly."
-- Roger Gathman, "Austin American-Statesman"
" "A Mirror Garden" introduces the captivating story of a unique artist. Monir' s art is beguiling, and so is the story of how she came to be a creator and collector of beautiful things."
- Her Majesty Queen Noor
" This thought-provoking, heartbreaking, delightful memoir spirits us across the battlefield of today' s headlines into a kaleidoscopic landscape of Iran in all its magical richness. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian boldly follows her dream of becoming an artist in the West before following love back to a new Iran. Like a Persian Audrey Hepburn, she recounts her adventures among boorish fanatics, elegant spies, celebrities, and, best of all, her own eccentric family, with a combination of plainspoken pluck and grace under pressure that is inspiring and irresistible."
- Tom Reiss, author of "The Orientalist"
" This thought-provoking, heartbreaking, delightful memoir spirits us across the battlefield of today's headlines into a kaleidoscopic landscape of Iran in all its magical richness. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian boldly follows her dream of becoming an artist in the West before following love back to a new Iran. Like a Persian Audrey Hepburn, she recounts her adventures among boorish fanatics, elegant spies, celebrities, and, best of all, her own eccentric family, with a combination of plainspoken pluck and grace under pressure that is inspiring and irresistible."
- Tom Reiss, author of "The Orientalist"
