Persian (Farsi) / Iran
Zībā ṣidāyam kun
(Ziba sedayam kon)
(Ziba, call me)
Ḥasanzāda, Farhād
(Hassanzadeh, Farhad)
(text)
Tihrān: Kānūn-i Parwariš-i Fikrī Kūdakān wa Nūǧawānān (Kanoon), 2015 (= 1394 h.sh.). – 191 p.
(Series: Maǧmūʿa-i Rumān-i Nauǧawān-i Imrūz)
ISBN 978-600-01-0194-7
Father | Daughter | Mental illness | Domestic violence
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2016
On her birthday, Ziba would like to go on an afternoon jaunt with her father, who has been living in a psychiatric hospital for years. She wants to tell him how much she has to endure from her stepfather. For one thing, he ripped the earrings she inherited from her grandmother out of her ears to make money from them. Even though her drug-addicted mother witnessed the scene, she wasn’t able to defend her daughter. The stepfather didn’t even shy away from sexually harassing Ziba. Eventually, a new path opened up for Ziba, when she took refuge in a girls’ home. At their outing, Ziba realises that her father’s health is deteriorating – another thing with which she will have to come to grips. In this bitter story, which is rather unusual and open for Iranian young adult fiction, Farhad Hassanzadeh draws a direct and unmitigated picture of the teenage protagonist’s life. The novel delivers a challenging topic that will give readers a lot to think about.