The Lion Women of Tehran

Ellie recalls the end of 11th grade, when she first met Mehrdad at Café Andre. Her family celebrated the Norwuz, the Iranian new year, with the usual rituals, one of which was preparing sabzeh, sprouted lentil seeds. They pack a picnic for Sizdah Bedar and find a spot near the Karaj River. Ellie goes to the water to wish for a husband and throw in her sabzeh, as tradition dictates, and there she meets Mehrdad. His mother comes out of the water, where she was swimming like a mermaid, and Ellie wishes her mother could exhibit the same free spirit.

Ellie is aware that her school provides excellent academic resources, but her mother is more concerned that Ellie “net” Mehrdad and get married. Ellie envies Afarin Molavi, the true queen of their school, who is rich, pretty, and ruthless. In literature class, the instructor introduces a new student, and Homa steps into the room. Ellie is astonished and, when Homa identifies them as childhood friends, embarrassed, especially when Afarin snickers. Ellie, not sure how Homa managed to enter “this rarefied new world, in which I held all kinds of hope for an ambitious future” (80), decides to ignore her. Homa walks with Ellie and her friends to Café Andre for lunch and wins them over. Ellie surrenders to Homa’s familiar pull.

They order their lunch at the café, including their favorite beverage, Canada Dry, and Ellie notices the cook stuffs her sandwich with extra filling, which she suspects is because of her looks. She sits with Homa to eat and drops the act of being Queen Elaheh. Homa reveals that her father was thrown into prison after the coup. Her mother, siblings, and Homa all work to support themselves. Ellie compares her own comfortable situation with a live-in housekeeper and cook. Enjoying Homa’s humor, Ellie laughs with “the relief that comes when someone who’s disappeared from your life reappears and conjures up the same magic and re-creates a longed-for connection” (90). With Homa, it seems, “against all evidence, that the world still lay before us for the taking” (90).

Homa still wishes to become a judge, and she has taken an interest in politics since the coup. Ellie’s parents are royalists, but Homa warns Ellie of the secret police and the laws needed to protect women. Ellie daydreams about Mehrdad. She attends a party at Afarin’s house and is nervous speaking to Sousan’s fiancé, the colonel. She dances with Mehrdad and is dreamily happy. Whereas Homa often makes Ellie feel she has to live up to something, with Mehrdad, Ellie feels that she is enough.

Homa declares that she wants the chance to look into Mehrdad’s eyes to see his soul. Homa doesn’t understand the attraction that others feel, but she is protective of Ellie. Homa is determined to go to university and wants Ellie to attend also, and not just because Mehrdad is going. Ellie reflects on Homa’s ambitious plans, hopefulness, and infectious joy.

Ellie and Homa hike the Alborz Mountains, planning to meet Mehrdad and his friends. Ellie teases Homa about becoming a judge and changing the laws of the country. Homa admits she attends communist meetings. She also sometimes attends the mosque. They look out over the magnificent view, and Homa announces, “The world is ours” (108). Another hiker takes a Polaroid picture of the two of them.

They find Mehrdad at the teahouse, sitting with a friend of his, Abdol. They order food and talk. Homa demonstrates appalling table manners, and later confesses to Ellie that she suspected Mehrdad was trying to set her up with Abdol, and she didn’t like it. Homa predicts happiness for Ellie, and Ellie is confident that Homa will change the world.

Homa and Ellie are both accepted into Tehran University. Ellie decides to study English, thinking, “We truly believed we were the ones who could alter the future” (117). While Ellie continues to steer clear of politics, Homa joins the student communist group and protests the shah’s use of the SAVAK, the secret police, to imprison and torture people. Ellie is thrilled when Mehrdad invites her to a chelo kabab lunch and asks her to marry him. They will marry after they graduate and agree they want children. Mehrdad and his parents come to the house to make a formal offer to Ellie’s mother and Uncle Massoud, and Ellie is embarrassed when her mother becomes emotional about giving up her daughter. Her mother wants Ellie’s happiness and fears she could be hurt by the evil eye.

Homa reveals that she won’t be joining the others at the festival of fire celebration because there is a meeting of the student communist group. Ellie, Mehrdad, and Abdol try to persuade her to join them. Abdol is in love with Homa and asked her to marry him, but she turned down his offer. Ellie is outraged when Homa reveals that Afarin, who is part of Homa’s group, has been translating some of the pamphlets on communism. Ellie demands that Homa give the pamphlets to her and she will translate them into Persian.

Homa shows up to the festival just as Ellie is getting ready to jump over the fire that represents leaping from the old year into the new. They decide to leap together, and as they clear the flames, hovering for a moment, Ellie thinks that “the world felt completely ours” (134).

Sousan decides to throw an engagement party for Niloo. Sousan, married to the colonel, has a toddler and an infant and a large, expensive house. The week before the party, Ellie and Homa argue. Homa is fired up about a protest, but Ellie is nervous because of the way riots in support of a religious cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini, were put down by the secret police. Ellie is tired of Homa’s disapproval because she is not political and admits she looks forward to being a traditional wife to Mehrdad. Ellie avoids the protest, but she wants to apologize to Homa.

Ellie dresses her best and arrives at Sousan’s mansion. She drinks some champagne, though she doesn’t typically drink. Niloo guides Ellie to the kitchen, where Homa is helping prepare the food. Ellie sees Homa at the stove, offering a sip of soup to Mehrdad. Mehrdad smiles at Homa. Ellie runs away. Homa follows, saying she wants to apologize after their fight, and swears she was not flirting with Mehrdad. She takes a taxi home. Mehrdad, also, is confused by Ellie’s anger. Ellie feels nauseous, and Sousan, thinking she has cramps, leads Ellie to the colonel’s study so she might lie down.

Ellie reflects on her emotions and feels her jealousy turning to shame. She wishes she hadn’t overreacted out of her own insecurities. She misses her father, and just then, the colonel enters the study. He asks Ellie about her studies and says he admires the progress that young women are making and the courage they exhibit. He says she and her friends are shir zan, “lion women” (158), and Ellie recalls what Homa always used to say. He praises the young women who are politically active and says his younger sister holds communist beliefs. He asks if Homa is also active and Ellie says Homa led last week’s student protest.

The next day, on university grounds, Ellie sees Homa about to enter a building when a car drives up and two men in black suits and sunglasses grab Homa and push her into the back seat. Ellie calls Homa’s mother and learns Homa has been thrown into prison on charges of conspiring against the king. Ellie fears she had something to do with Homa’s arrest.

Ellie meets Sousan in the park. Sousan is dressed in expensive furs, but her eyes are haggard. Sousan knows her husband, the colonel, is a SAVAK spy and chides Ellie for giving Homa away. When Ellie asks how she can live with him, Sousan says Ellie has no grounds to be self-righteous when her family has also benefited from the reign of the shah. Besides, given divorce laws, Sousan feels she can’t leave the colonel; would never be granted custody of her children. Sousan has protected Homa all this time and can’t believe Ellie would be so naïve. Ellie walks the streets for hours that night, burdened with “suffocating guilt and shame” (165).