Rosewater and Soda Bread

After reading Marsha Mehran's first novel, Pomegranate Soup, about the three Aminpour sisters and the changes they bring to a sleepy Irish town, I knew I was going to be reading the next story in the series. Set in the 1980's, the three Aminpour sisters -- Marjan, Bahar and Layla -- have fled the revolutionary world of the Shah's Iran to a more uncertain future in the West. Their first stop was London, and struggling to survive, along with living in fear -- events chronicled in Pomegranate Soup. Now they've come to a little Irish town, Ballinacroagh, famous as a site of pilgrimage of St. Patrick, and home to a wide cast of rather curious sorts. When Rosewater and Soda Bread opens, Marjan and her sisters have been running the Babylon Cafe for eighteen months, and settling into their new lives. Marjan still mothers her sisters, doing most of the cooking and work around the cafe and Layla is still in school and with young Malachi McGuire. But new things are turning up, what with Layla and Malachi wondering if they should explore sex or not, and Bahar has been vanishing somewhere every couple of days -- the why of which both of her sisters can not or have not figured out. For Marjan, it's the arrival of an author from England, Julian Muir, who has caught her attention. Julian is working on restoring his family estate, and when Marjan finds out that he can quote Rumi and spent some time in Iran, she's smitten, even though her sense of trust tells her not to put too much faith in him. Estelle Delmonico has also returned, and a great deal of the story revolves about the consequences when she finds a lovely -- but mute -- young woman washed up on the beach, nearly naked and injured. In among the preparations for Halloween, rumours of witches and wicked doings are circulating around the village, many of them started by that evil gossip, Dervla Quigley, and her particular hatred of the three sisters. While I did enjoy reading the unfolding relationship between Marjan and Julian, and Layla turns out to be far more sensible than most teenagers that I know of, the character that I really wanted to smack hard (besides the busybody Mrs. Quigley) was Bahar. I just couldn't buy a lot of what she was doing, and I would think that after the earlier events in her life, she wouldn't be such a judgmental and condemning person -- if she continues this way will remain to be seen if there is a third novel about the sisters. Along the way, there are plenty of interesting tidbits about Persian cooking, Zoroastrian thought, and commentary about the modern world versus tradition. While it tends to be on the light side, there are still plenty of serious ideas being touched on, but Ms. Mehran doesn't get bogged down or mired too deeply in it. The story moves along briskly, and the novel itself is a quick read at just a couple of hours. Weaving through all of this are a look at Father Mahoney's new hobby, the question of abortion and contraception in modern Ireland

..but I still really enjoyed this book. There is nothing on the cover of this book (at least the Australian version) which indicates it is a sequel. So when I found this out I wasn't sure if I should read the first book before this one. I decided not to, and found that I still enjoyed the story, the plot made sense and it just didn't seem to be an issue. This book was easy to read - I only read of an evening and I finished it in 3 or 4 days. Now I can't wait to read the previous book to find out what happened to the sisters before Rosewater and Soda Bread.

Mehran has again given us a delicious story about the clash of cultures that would seem to never blend. Somehow, Mehran's Aminpour sisters overcome small town prejudices and ethnic distrust. And why not? Speaking through the universal language of food, the sisters blend into the fabric of Irish life while enriching it. While not my usual read, I was curious to see how the sisters adapted after Pomegranate Soup. I'm pleased to say, this was a worthy sequel and still left room for more.

Warm, witty and magical, Mehran's Rosewater & Soda Bread was a delightful read. The three Aminpour sisters are deliciously different and equally captivating throughout the story. You fall in love with them on the first page. Anxiously awaiting another novel from this bright young author!

The book is like hot tea, you have to sip it slowly and not gulp it down at one go. One of those books which, if you just look at the content, is not anything special but leaves a "feel good" aftertaste. I read her first book "Pomegranate Soup and enjoyed it and now after reading this one I am a fan