4.4
-
6,474 ratings
From the award-nominated author of Together Tea and The Lion Women of Tehran, a poignant, "powerful" (The Wall Street Journal) and "affecting novel about first love" (Real Simple) that explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
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ISBN-10
1982107499
ISBN-13
978-1982107499
Print length
336 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Gallery Books
Publication date
February 10, 2020
Dimensions
5.63 x 0.9 x 8.38 inches
Item weight
2.31 pounds
The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.
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Roya’s mother had always said that our fate is written on our foreheads when we’re born. It can’t be seen, can’t be read, but it’s there in invisible ink all right, and life follows that fate. No matter what.
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She was suddenly wrecked by her love for him and for Walter and for all those who had gone and for those who remained.
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ASIN :
B07MGS7VLX
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5482 KB
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Enabled
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"[A] moving tale of lost love." (The Wall Street Journal)
“Marjan Kamali weaves a powerful, heartbreaking story of star-crossed lovers and Iran's political upheavals...The Stationery Shop is at once a layered historical saga of a country struggling toward democracy and an intimate meditation on "a love from which we never recover.” (Shelf Awareness)
“Marjan Kamali's The Stationery Shop is an affecting novel about first love.” (Real Simple)
"A powerful love story." (Newsweek)
“Spanning decades and continents, Marjan Kamali’s richly imagined novel immerses us in the blossoming love affair between two Iranian teenagers, set against the political upheaval of 1950s Tehran. Evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful, THE STATIONERY SHOP explores love’s power to transcend time and distance—and the ways fate can tear people apart and bring them back together. This book broke my heart again and again.” (Whitney Scharer, author of THE AGE OF LIGHT )
“Kamali paints an evocative portrait of 1950s Iran and its political upheaval, and she cleverly writes the heartbreak of Roya and Bahman’s romance to mirror the tragic recent history of their country. Simultaneously briskly paced and deeply moving, this will appeal to fans of Khaled Hosseini and should find a wide audience.” (Booklist)
"A sweeping romantic tale of thwarted love." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A beautifully immersive tale, THE STATIONERY SHOP brings to life a lost and complex world and the captivating characters who once called it home." (Jasmin Darznik, New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD DAUGHTER and SONG OF A CAPTIVE BIRD )
"The unfurling stories in Kamali’s sophomore novel (after Together Tea) will stun readers as the aromas of Persian cooking wafting throughout convince us that love can last a lifetime. For those who enjoy getting caught up in romance while discovering unfamiliar history of another country." (Library Journal)
"A big, ambitious, beautifully executed novel that draws the reader in and never lets go.”
(The Santa Barbara Independent)
"Grab your tissues . . . Marjan Kamali’s second novel channels love in the time of coup d’états. Set among the political upheaval of 1950s Tehran, The Stationery Shop follows teenager Roya as she discovers the power of love, loss, and then, decades later, fate. And did we mention you’ll need tissues?" (Boston Magazine)
"A tender story of enduring love." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
"I! Am! Obsessed! With! This! Book! . . . Think The Notebook, only better (no offense, Ryan Gosling)." (COSMOPOLITAN.COM)
"A beautiful, emotionally honest story about first love, deep family bonds, and fate." (Pop Sugar)
“What a pleasure—a novel that is all at once masterfully plotted, beautifully written, and filled with characters who are arresting, lovable, and so real. Brava, Marjan Kamali; now that I’ve finished, I miss this world of yours.” (Elinor Lipman, author of GOOD RIDDANCE and TURPENTINE LANE )
"A heart-wrenching story about two literary souls torn apart by social upheaval . . . a tragically beautiful narrative of star-crossed lovers." (The Daily Nebraskan)
"Set against the political turmoil of 1950's Tehran, Marjan Kamali's THE STATIONERY SHOP illuminates how love is experienced over time and influenced by the fingerprints of others. Yet. despite every obstacle, the power of heart and memory endure. A beautiful and sensitive novel that I loved from the first page." (Alyson Richman, international bestselling author of THE LOST WIFE and THE SECRET OF CLOUDS )
“[A] tender story of lifelong love…The loss of love and changing worlds is vividly captured by Kamali; time and circumstances kept these lovers apart, but nothing diminishes their connection. Readers will be swept away.” (Publishers Weekly)
“The Stationery Shop is a wistful look at two idealists and the world they should have inherited . . . Kamali offers a paean not just to lost love, but to the poetry, food, and culture that fed their memories for 60 years.” (Christian Science Monitor)
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Chapter One
2013
The Center
“I made an appointment to see him.”
She said it as if she were seeing the dentist or a therapist or the pushy refrigerator salesman who had promised her and Walter a lifetime guarantee of cold milk and crisp vegetables and unspoiled cheese if only they would buy this brand-new model.
Walter dried the dishes, his gaze on the kitchen towel and its print of a yellow chick holding an umbrella. He didn’t argue. Walter Archer’s penchant for logic, his ability to let reason trump all, was a testament to Roya’s own good judgment. For hadn’t she married a man who was reasonable and, my goodness, unbelievably understanding? Hadn’t she, in the end, not married that boy, the one she had met so many decades ago in a small stationery shop in Tehran, but lassoed her life instead to this Massachusetts-born pillar of stability? This Walter. Who ate a hard-boiled egg for breakfast almost every single day, who said as he dried the dishes, “If you want to see him, then you should. You’ve been a bit of a wreck, I’m afraid.” By now Roya Archer was almost American, not just by marriage but by virtue of having been in these United States for over five decades. She could remember a childhood spent in the hot and dusty streets of Tehran, playing tag with her little sister, Zari, but her life now was carefully enclosed in New England.
With Walter.
One visit to one shop a mere week ago—to buy paper clips!—had cracked everything open. Once again she was mired in 1953. Cinema Metropole in the middle of Iran’s largest city that contentious summer. The red circular sofa in the lobby, over which a chandelier’s crystals glistened like corpulent tears, smoke from cigarettes floated in wisps. Up the stairs and into the movie theater he had led her, and there on the screen, stars with foreign names caressed each other. After the film, he had walked with her in the summer twilight. The sky was lavender and layered with shades of purple so varied, they seemed impossible. He had asked her to marry him near the jasmine-soaked bushes. His voice cracked when he said her name. They had exchanged countless love letters, planned their union. But in the end, nothing. Life had pulled out from under her everything that they had planned.
No worries.
Roya’s mother had always said that our fate is written on our foreheads when we’re born. It can’t be seen, can’t be read, but it’s there in invisible ink all right, and life follows that fate. No matter what.
She had squished that boy out of her mind for decades. She had a life to build, a country to get to know. Walter. A child to raise. That Tehran boy could very well be squeezed to the absolute bottom of the bucket, like a rag useless and worn out and pressed so far down into the depths that after a while he was almost forgotten.
But now she could finally ask him why he had left her there in the middle of the square.
Walter maneuvered the car into the slippery spot narrowed by snowbanks. When they jerked to a stop, Roya couldn’t open the car door. Somehow, during their long drive together, they’d become locked in.
He came around and opened the car door because he was Walter, because he had been raised by a mother (Alice: kind, sweet, smelled of potato salad) who had taught him how to treat a lady. Because he was seventy-seven and couldn’t comprehend why young men today didn’t handle their wives like fragile glass. He helped Roya out of the car and made sure her knitted scarf protected her nose and mouth against the wind. Together they walked carefully across the parking lot and up the steps of the gray building of the Duxton Senior Center.
A burst of overheated air greeted them in the lobby. A young woman, about thirty, her blond hair in a bun, sat behind a desk. A plastic badge with the name CLAIRE was pinned to her chest. Flyers tacked onto a bulletin board behind her desk exclaimed “Movie Night!” and “Bavarian Lunch!” all with exclamation marks, even as the edges of the flyers furled, even as crumpled people in wheelchairs inched their way across the linoleum floor and others pushing walkers steadied themselves so as not to fall.
“Hi there! Joining us for Friday lunch today?” Claire’s voice was loud.
Walter opened his mouth to say something.
“Hello, he won’t,” Roya quickly said. “My husband is going to try the famous faux lobster roll at the Dandelion Deli. I looked it up on the Yelp. So rare to find lobster roll served in the middle of winter, don’t you think? Even if it’s fake.” She was rambling. She was trying so hard not to be nervous. “It was given five stars.”
“That deli?” The receptionist looked surprised.
“Their lobster roll,” Roya mumbled.
Walter sighed. He held up five fingers to indicate to Claire that his wife believed in the five stars.
“Oh, okay! Lobster!” Claire nodded. She pronounced it lobstah. “Have to trust those Yelp reviews!”
“Go on, then,” Roya said gently to her husband. She raised herself on her toes to kiss Walter’s freshly shaven cheek. The crepey skin, his Irish Spring soap scent. She wanted to reassure him.
“Righty-oh.” Walter nodded. “You got it. Off I go, then.” But he didn’t move.
She squeezed his hand, the familiar soft grip of her life.
“Don’t let her get into too much trouble now,” Walter finally said to the receptionist. His voice was strained.
A blast of cold air filled the lobby when Walter walked out the double doors and descended into the icy parking lot.
Roya stood uneasily in front of the desk. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the smell of ammonia and some kind of stew. Beef? Definitely beef with onions. The heat, cranked up to compensate for the New England cold, made the stew smell overpowering. She couldn’t believe she had actually come here. The radiators hissed, wheelchairs squeaked, it all suddenly felt like a terrible mistake.
“And how may I help you?” Claire asked. A gold cross hung around her neck. She looked at Roya with a strange expression, as though she knew her.
“I made an appointment to see someone,” Roya said. “One of your assisted-living patients.”
“Ah, you mean a resident. Great. And who may that be?”
“Mr. Bahman Aslan.” The words came out of Roya’s mouth slowly, like rings of smoke, visible and real. It had been years since she’d said his full name out loud.
The cross on Claire’s neck glinted under the fluorescent lights. Walter would be out of the parking lot by now.
Claire got up and came around the desk to face Roya. She gently took both of Roya’s hands in hers. “It is so nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Archer. I am Claire Becker, the assistant administrator at the Duxton Center. Thank you for coming. I have heard so very much about you. It means a lot to me that you are here.”
So she wasn’t the receptionist—she was an administrator. How did Claire Becker know Roya’s name? It must have been in the appointment book. She had made an appointment, after all. But why did this young woman act like she knew her? And how had she heard so much about her?
“Please come,” Claire said softly. “I’ll take you right to him.” This time she didn’t add the obligatory exclamation mark that seemed necessary for covering up misery around here.
Roya followed Claire down a corridor and into a large hall furnished with a long table and plastic folding chairs arranged on either side. But no one sat at the table playing bingo or gossiping.
Claire pointed to the far end of the room. “He’s been waiting for you.”
By the window sat a man in a wheelchair next to an empty plastic chair. His back was to them; Roya couldn’t see his face. Claire started to approach him, but then she stopped. She cocked her head and took in Roya from head to toe as if measuring her potential for safety, for harm, for drama. Claire fidgeted with her necklace. “Is there anything I can get you? Water? Tea? Coffee?”
“Oh, I’m fine, thank you for asking.”
“Are you sure?”
“You are kind to ask. But no.”
Now it was Claire’s turn to linger. By God, no one wanted to leave Roya alone with this . . . resident. For crying out loud. As if she, a small woman in her seventies, held any kind of power over him or anyone else anymore. As if she, Roya Archer, could torch the place down with her presence, create a blast just by being there.
“I am good,” she said. She’d learned to say that from Americans: I’m good, I’m fine, it’s all okay, okey-dokey. Easy-peasy Americanisms. She knew how to do it. Her heart pounded, but she looked steadily at Claire.
Claire lowered her head and finally turned and walked out. The click-click of her heels as she left the room matched Roya’s extra-loud heartbeat.
She could still follow Claire and leave this smelly place, catch up to Walter before he finished his lunch, go home, climb into bed, and pretend never to have made this strange miscalculation. It wasn’t too late. She imagined Walter hunched over his ginger beer and lobster roll alone at that deli—poor thing. But no. She’d come here to finally find out.
One foot in front of the other, that was how you did it. She forced herself toward the wheelchair by the window. Her heels didn’t click; she had on her trusty gray thick-soled shoes. Walter had insisted that she wear snow boots, but she had refused. She was willing to accept a lot of things, but seeing her old lover for the first time in sixty years while wearing fat Eskimo boots was one of the few things she could not accept.
The man was oblivious to her presence, as if she didn’t exist.
“I’ve been waiting,” a voice suddenly said in Farsi, and Roya’s body buzzed. That voice had both energized and comforted her when they were inseparable.
It was 1953. It was summer. She was seventeen. New England melted away, and the cold outside and the false heat inside evaporated, and Roya’s legs were tanned and toned, and they were standing, she and he, by the barricades, leaning onto the splintered wood, screaming at the top of their lungs. The crowd billowed, the sun burned her scalp, two long braids ended at her breasts, her Peter Pan collar was soaked in sweat. All around them, people pumped their fists and cried as one. Anticipation, the knowing of something new and better about to arrive, the certainty that she would be his in a free, democratic Iran—it was all theirs. They had owned a future and a fate, engaged in a country on the verge of a bold beginning. She had loved him with the force of a blast. It had been impossible to imagine a future in which she didn’t hear his voice every day.
On the linoleum, Roya saw her feet, suddenly unrecognizable to her—in gray little-old-lady shoes with thick soles and tiny bows on top.
The man wheeled his chair around and his face broke into a smile. He looked tired; his lips were dry and deep lines scored his forehead. But his eyes were joyful and filled with hope.
“I’ve been waiting,” he repeated.
Was it possible to slip so easily back? His voice was the same. It was him, all of it, the eyes, the voice, her Bahman.
But then she remembered why she had come. “I see.” Her voice came out much stronger than she’d expected. “But all I’ve wanted to ask you is why on earth didn’t you wait last time?”
She sank into the chair next to him, as tired as she’d ever been in all her years on earth. She was seventy-seven and exhausted. But as she remembered that cruel, disillusioning summer from which she’d never fully recovered, she felt as if she were still seventeen.
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Marjan Kamali
Marjan Kamali is the award-winning author of The Stationery Shop (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), a national bestseller, and Together Tea (EccoBooks/HarperCollins), a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. She is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. Kamali’s novels are published in translation in more than 20 languages and The Stationery Shop was awarded the Prix Attitude in France. Her essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Literary Hub, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from New York University. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, Kamali spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S.
Visit the author at marjankamali.com, on instagram at @marjankamali7, on facebook at www.facebook.com/MarjanKamaliAuthor or on twitter at @MarjanKamali.
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Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5
6,474 global ratings
Teddie S.
5
What can I say? I ❤ this book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Chapter One begins in a senior care facility in New England in 2013. Seventy-seven year-old Roya Archer has come to visit a resident named Bahman Aslan. They haven't seen each other in sixty years, and until a few days ago, she had no idea he was even in the United States, let alone within driving distance. Roya has one question to ask the man before her.
Flashback to the summer of 1953 in Tehran, Iran. Seventeen year-old Roya loves to spend time in The Stationary Shop owned by Mr. Fakhri. She never tires of looking at the expertly crafted fountain pens, the bottles of ink and boxes of stationary in every color, and reading the beautiful books of poetry. It is in this small shop where she meets a handsome young man named Bahman. Over the summer, with the subtle encouragement of Mr. Fakhri, the two fall deeply in love.
The young couple have steep obstacles to overcome before they can start their life together. Bahman's mother is mentally ill and threatens to kill herself if he marries Roya. Also, there is much political upheaval in Iran in 1953. Several factions are plotting to overthrow the current ruler, and Bahman is working covertly for one of the factions. Bahman asks Roya to have patience.
Word gets to Roya to meet Bahman at a certain time and.place in the market square, where they will get married. She waits for hours, but he doesn't show up. In fact, he disappears.
Eventually Roya travels to the United States to attend a university, settles down and marries a very good man named Walter, and they make a life together. But, try as she might, she never forgot the young man she had loved with all her heart.
Now, sixty years later, she can finally get an answer to her question. Why didn't he show up that day in the square?
This book was rather difficult to get into in the beginning. I didn't know much about Iranian history and the unfamiliar names were hard to keep straight. But eventually all my senses became immersed in the culture. I could hear, taste, smell, and feel Tehran. Combine that with a beautiful but heartbreaking love story.... It was very well written. What can I say? I loved this book! Five stars.
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5 people found this helpful
Amazon Customer
5
stationary shop
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
Verified Purchase
Loved the detail of all the characters. Many twists and turns in the story. Enjoyed the theme of love and choice
2 people found this helpful
Mom to 2 Boys
5
Heartfelt novel
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
I stumbled across Marjan Kamali when reading a preview for the Lion of Tehran and thought Stationary Shop looked interesting. So glad I picked it up!
I remember the 1979 exile of the Iranian Shah but knew none of the country’s history . Kamali does a great job using several pivotal moments in Irans history as a backdrop to a love story mixing culture and historical events of 2 characters lifetimes.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to dive into her newly released novel!
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Mariel Becerra
5
Full Circle
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
Such a beautiful book. By far a personal favorite (I am sure I will re-read it soon). It was beautifully written, and I knew I had to reach out to Marjan Kamali on instagram to let her know how much I loved the story. Lovely as could be, she responded and we had a short conversation about the story and I will never forget how nice and grateful she was. Authors who interact with their audience are treasures
Going into the book I didn’t know much about it, especially about the different timelines, and I loved it. The way it was written made this such an enjoyable read, I finished it in one day. The characters in the story were strong and (most of them) well rounded. Every character had a purpose, especially the antagonists and the ones you think are just background characters, you will be surprised. And this story will make you feel ALL the feels. I mean it. You will cry, you will laugh (it is so funny, especially Roya’s mom lol), you will be enraged, and mad, and in awe, etc.
I appreciated the culture and history that we got. I wish we could have gotten to see a little more from Bahman but because of he POV and him being an Activist it would have been difficult, because the main characters were not together all the time. In fact, we only get to see and feel what Roya tells us from her side, so I understand if some people don’t feel the “love” connection”. But we have to remember that they fell in love in the 1950s - some people got married after only seeing each other twice for like an hour, (like my grandparents lol). But there are so many themes besides young love in this story, like motherhood, forgiveness, migration, politics and culture, and other love stories.
Spoilers: Everything came full circle by the end, and it wasn’t just to tie a beautiful bow at the end but for closure. This is not only a book about young love but of loss. The loss of a child, the loss of a friend, the loss of love, loss of your family (migration to the US), and so much more, and finding peace with it all.
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9 people found this helpful
christine ahlstrand
5
Awesome love story.
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2024
Verified Purchase
Loved the author’s style. Loved the story line and characters. And I enjoyed the knowledge it shared about life in Iran.
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