My Father's Notebook by Kader Abdolah

At a time where Iran is at the forefront of international diplomacy, Kader Abdolah has written a powerful novel in which reality is sensuously mixed with evocative description, allowing the reader a gripping insight into Iran and its culture.

Abdolah himself wrote for an illegal journal whilst studying in Tehran, challenging the dictatorship of the shah and subsequent ayatollahs. Don't misjudge that this is 'another political book', as it is far from that. Whilst Abdolah's novel travels through the 1979 revolution, war with Iraq and terrorism, it is the over-riding theme of protagonist Ishmael and his father's legacy which provides the voice raised against repression.

It is all too easy for anyone living here in the West to become complacent when reading novels about political exile and tyranny in the Middle East. But Abdolah's subtle depiction of Ishmael's political exile is empathic in the extreme, allowing the reader to constantly identify with the struggle against tyranny. Ishmael does not fall victim to the tedium of being a perpetual voice of consciousness - a moral message is incorporated into the text instead, without becoming patronising.

Abdolah's narrative is simple, with short, profound statements, but still challenges the preconceptions that many have of Iran, particularly during recent times. At times, the novel does delve a little too deeply into didactics, and is not entirely coherent in mixing autobiography and fiction. However, the provocative imagery of past and recent Iran is more than enough to override any faults. [CC Mapletoft]