The Ministry of Guidance

These evocative stories shine a light on the lives of young Iranians who are questioning their sexuality and identity in a culture where queerness is legal but not widely accepted. Set mostly in Iran, but making forays to London, Mecca, Germany, and the transit area of a Ukrainian airport, the stories are brilliantly deft in summoning up the dilemmas of their protagonists, be they characters who are kicking against the confines of the society into which they are born, or characters wanting to embrace those confines. Noor is a brave and acute observer of how the human spirit fights free of social repression in all its guises. These are stories that argue for nuance in a world that wants to make things black and white