Song of a Captive Bird

A spellbinding debut novel based on the life of the rebel poet Forugh Farrokhzad, who defied Iranian society to find her voice, and love-inspiring generations of women to come. Although she is told that daughters should be quiet and modest, young Forugh finds ways to rebel--gossiping with her sister in the rose garden, composing poems behind the closed doors of her bedroom, sneaking out with a teenage paramour to discuss books over a café glacé. As a young woman in the 1950s, Forugh flees her forced marriage, returns to Tehran, and falls into a passionate affair. When her newfound freedom finds its voice on the page, her published poems--considered brilliant and utterly scandalous--polarize Iranian society. Unwilling to return to a traditional, expected life, Forugh continues to live by her own rules, finding love and success--but at enormous cost. This haunting novel--informed by Forugh's writings, films, and interviews--captures the tenacity, spirit, and conflicting desires of a rebel poet who, to this day, continues to inspire women around the world.