33 Arches and a Teahouse
33 Bogen und ein Teehaus

zaeri cover
Peter Hammer Verlag
September 2016 / 148pp
Children’s & Young Adults’
  • Selected by Litrix.de

This book is outside of the five-year window for guaranteed assistance with English language translation. We suggest getting in touch with the relevant funding body for an informal conversation about the possibility of support. Please refer to to our  recommendations page for books that are currently covered by our funding guarantee.

review

33 Arches and a Teahouse is a thoroughly engaging piece of autobiographical fiction which offers a child’s-eye view of the Iranian Revolution and a family’s flight to Germany. Its wealth of political, geographical and cultural detail is presented with a light touch, and the universal experiences throughout the narrative will speak to all readers.

The novel opens with the narrator’s positive memories of early childhood in her home city of Isfahan. After the Islamic Revolution, however, all secular pastimes are banned and strict laws are imposed with severe punishments for the slightest infringement. Worse is to come with the Iran-Iraq war, and the family finally leave their privileged life and flee via Turkey to Germany. Their arrival in Germany is polarised by the magic of Christmas celebrations and a first encounter with snow, set against the bleak, dehumanising experience of life in a huge refugee hostel.

This is a timely as well as timeless perspective on the refugee experience which readers will want to recommend over and over again. Zaeri-Esfahani’s book will appeal to thoughtful young readers as well as adults and has the potential to become a classic in the mode of Judith Kerr or Esther Hautzig.

press quotes

‘No recent German young-adult book has such a densely woven narrative fabric, and none gives such an immediate impression of what it means to have a home.’ – Litrix.de

Click here to read the full review on litrix.de and for a sample translation

about the author

As a little girl, Mehrnousch Zaeri-Esfahani played mother to all the stray cats in her street. At the age of nine she lost her four-legged friends and her homeland of Iran: her family fled the war, leaving the beautiful city of Isfahan with its famous bridge of 33 arches. She arrived in West Germany via Istanbul and the GDR. She now lives in Karlsruhe and divides her time between working in intercultural relations and her great passion, telling stories and writing. In 33 Bogen und ein Teehaus she tells her own story.

rights information

English:

Agentur Susanne Koppe

Contact: Susanne Koppe

Email: agentur@susanne-koppe.de

www.auserlesen-ausgezeichnet.de

 

Other languages:

Mundt Agency

Contact: Anja Mundt

Email: anja@mundtagency.com

www.mundtagency.com

translation assistance

Applications should be made to the Goethe-Institut.

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