A Book and a Bite

The theme of this book group a simple - incontrovertibly fine books accompanied by slightly more controversial, interpretive food pairings for each selection.For our second book of 2026 we will read Shida Bazyar's _The Nights are Quiet in Tehran,_ which was recently shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Set across four decades, from 1979 to 2009, this is a polyphonic novel of one family’s flight from and return to Iran.You're very welcome to join us in the first Book Book and a Bite of the New Year.

We will meet monthly, and there is no commitment beyond whichever meeting you decide to attend._1979.

Behzad, a young communist revolutionary, fights with his friends for a new order after the Shah’s expulsion.

He tells of sparking hope, of clandestine political actions, and of how he finds the love of his life in the courageous, intelligent Nahid. __1989.

Nahid lives her new life in West Germany with Behzad.

With their young children, they spend hour after hour in front of the radio, hoping for news from others who went into hiding after the mullahs came to power. __1999.

Laleh returns to Iran with her mother, Nahid.

Between beauty rituals and family secrets, she gets to know a Tehran that hardly matches her childhood memories. __2009.

Laleh’s brother Mo is more concerned with a friend’s heartbreak than with student demonstrations in Germany.

But then the Green Revolution breaks out in Iran and turns the world upside down. __The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran is a moving novel about revolution, oppression, resistance, and the absolute desire for freedom._