The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan

The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Told by a young Persian woman, author, and chef who left Iran following the Islamic Revolution, this book shows how terrible and heartbreaking be courageous can be. Noor and her brother Mehrdad are sent to their uncle in California when they are 18 and 19 years old. Noor, especially, does not understand why their baba-jan has sent them away and longs for home. But Zod, their father, knows to stay would be dangerous, perhaps even fatal, and though it breaks his heart and theirs, they must go. Zod owns the Café Leila, keeping it open during good times and bad, feeding anyone who walks in the door, and beloved by all. Before her untimely death, the secret behind which he never shares with his children. (view spoiler)[ She is killed for being a woman and insulting a cab driver. She is kept in prison for months, being tortured, until she is hanged the day after they allow her husband to see her. Her body is never returned to the family, and the children are unaware. (hide spoiler)]
Zod finally gives Noor permission to come home, when he is dying. She brings her daughter, Lily, who has never known her Iranian roots. In the end, Noor realizes she must stay, at least for a time, to carry on her father's dream and to try and improve life for those who remain.
AtY #39: A book involving an immigrant
Book 78 of 2021


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