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Marjan Kamali

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8 min read

Age & reading levelAdult
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4.6 · 40,659 Amazon ratings
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
$10.53 on AmazonAudiobook
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The Lion Women of Tehran

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali Review: A Sweeping, Deeply Felt Friendship Saga

by Marjan Kamali

Marjan Kamali's The Lion Women of Tehran is a New York Times bestseller that traces the decades-long friendship of Ellie and Homa against the turbulent backdrop of twentieth-century Iran, from the early 1950s through 2022. Published by Gallery Books on July 2, 2024, the novel earned a starred notice from Kirkus Reviews as "a touching portrait of courage and friendship," and People called it "an evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism." Kamali, a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Award recipient whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages, brings her command of Iranian history and culture to what is widely regarded as her most ambitious work to date.

$10.53 on Amazon
Adultpolitical imprisonment and state violence · depiction of authoritarian repression of women's rights

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who love sweeping, historically grounded friendship sagas — particularly those drawn to modern Iranian history and women's resistance narratives — who responded to Kamali's earlier The Stationery Shop and are ready to invest in a seven-decade story.

Worth it if

The combination of intimate, lifelong friendship and documented political upheaval — from 1950s Tehran through the 1979 Revolution to the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini — sounds like exactly the kind of ambitious historical fiction you find most rewarding.

Skip if

Readers who prefer dual narrative perspectives with equal interiority for both leads may find it limiting that Homa — the more politically active of the two women — is experienced entirely through Ellie's single viewpoint rather than given her own direct voice.

Kirkus Reviews calls it "a touching portrait of courage and friendship," crediting Kamali with weaving Iran's political upheavals into a narrative that remains rooted in individual lives. BookPage describes the result as "a riveting saga" and praises Kamali's close examination of how the country's changing regimes have affected women's rights, concluding simply: "Prepare to lose yourself."

“A touching portrait of courage and friendship — a lifetime of friendship endures many upheavals.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“A riveting saga… Prepare to lose yourself in a historical drama that artfully explores the labyrinthine complexities of deep friendship.”

— BookPage
Sources: Kirkus Reviews, BookPage
4.6from 40,659 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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The Lion Women of Tehran is Marjan Kamali's most ambitious novel to date — a decades-spanning saga of two Iranian women, Ellie and Homa, whose friendship is tested by class, political upheaval, and an accidental betrayal, set against more than seven decades of Iranian history from 1950 to 2022. Kirkus Reviews calls it "a touching portrait of courage and friendship," and People praises it as "a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism." Readers who prize epic friendship narratives rooted in real historical stakes will find it deeply rewarding, though those seeking equal interiority from both women should note that the entire story is filtered through Ellie's perspective.
Is it worth reading?
For readers drawn to epic friendship narratives anchored in real historical stakes, The Lion Women of Tehran delivers on its ambitions. The novel earned a starred Kirkus review, a Book of the Month Club Main Selection, and praise from People, Ms. Magazine, and BookPage — a breadth of critical recognition that reflects both its emotional resonance and its cultural scope. The main caveat is structural: the sweeping seven-decade time frame occasionally competes with the intimacy of the personal story, and Homa — the more politically dramatic of the two women — is always filtered through Ellie's consciousness rather than given her own narrative voice. BookPage's verdict is nonetheless pointed: "Prepare to lose yourself."
Similar books
Readers drawn to The Lion Women of Tehran often gravitate toward books that pair intimate women's stories with turbulent political landscapes. Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns covers similar ground — a decades-long bond between two women set against the upheaval of twentieth-century Afghanistan. Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir Persepolis offers a personal lens on the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. Yasmina Khadra's The Swallows of Kabul likewise traces the human cost of fundamentalist regime change on women's lives. For a quieter but emotionally resonant story of friendship and longing across generations, Libby Page's This Book Made Me Think of You offers a warmly reviewed companion read. Kamali's own earlier novels — The Stationery Shop and Together Tea — are natural starting points for readers new to her work.
Who should read this?
The Lion Women of Tehran is written for adult readers who love epic historical fiction centered on women's lives and long-arc friendships. It will resonate most strongly with those who responded to Kamali's earlier novel The Stationery Shop, or who are drawn to stories — like A Thousand Splendid Suns — that root personal relationships in documented political upheaval. Readers with an interest in Iranian history, the 1979 Revolution, or the Woman, Life, Freedom movement will find the novel's documentary urgency especially compelling. Those seeking equal narrative access to both central characters should note that the entire story is told from Ellie's perspective, with Homa always at one remove.
About Marjan Kamali
Marjan Kamali is an Iranian-American novelist and author.
What are the main themes?
At its core, The Lion Women of Tehran is about friendship, class, and the cost of political courage — explored through the contrasting trajectories of Ellie and Homa across seven decades of Iranian history. Kamali maps the friction between Ellie's socially ambitious worldview and Homa's commitment to human rights and women's liberation with precision, and Kirkus Reviews highlights themes of jealousy even within close friendships. The novel also examines how rights erode incrementally — Homa's observation that losses 'start small' before rights are 'stripped in droves' functions as both character insight and historical argument. The Woman, Life, Freedom movement of 2022 and the death of Mahsa Amini anchor these themes in urgent contemporary reality.
Is it a good book club pick?
The Lion Women of Tehran was a Book of the Month Club Main Selection, which the club praised as 'a compelling historical read that is at its heart about friendship' — a strong institutional signal of its discussion potential. The novel raises layered questions about political complicity, class loyalty, the limits of good intentions, and how women navigate resistance under authoritarian regimes. Kirkus Reviews' highlighting of jealousy as a theme even within close friendships, and Homa's incremental-loss theory of political erosion, give book clubs rich material beyond the emotional friendship arc. Multiple reviewers — People, Ms. Magazine, BookPage, Kirkus — offer divergent framings that could anchor a structured discussion.
How does it compare to The Stationery Shop?
The review positions The Lion Women of Tehran as Kamali's most ambitious work to date — a step up in scope from The Stationery Shop. Both novels are anchored in twentieth-century Iranian history and centre on an emotional relationship tested by political upheaval, and readers who responded to The Stationery Shop are described as the natural audience for this book. The Lion Women of Tehran is broader in its time frame (1950 to 2022 versus the Stationery Shop's more focused period), more explicitly feminist in its argument, and more directly engaged with contemporary events, including the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

The Lion Women of Tehran follows Ellie and Homa, two women who meet as seven-year-olds at school in 1950 Tehran and whose friendship stretches across more than seven decades of Iranian history. Their bond is shaped by a sharp class divide — Ellie's family clings to faded aristocratic pretensions, while Homa's father is jailed for opposing the monarchy — and is nearly destroyed by an accidental betrayal that derails Homa's ambitions to become a lawyer and champion women's rights. Kamali weaves their personal story through the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the 1979 Revolution, the fundamentalist regime that followed, and the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. BookPage describes the result as "a riveting saga" that covers the "violence and brutality" of the post-revolutionary period alongside the intimate geography of a lifelong friendship.

Follow up

What is the betrayal between Ellie and Homa?
How does the story end?
What does the title mean?

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Kirkus Reviews calls it "a touching portrait of courage and friendship" — a verdict that captures both the novel's emotional core and the formidable scope Kamali brings to it.

What the Novel Is and What It Covers

The Lion Women of Tehran opens in 1950 Tehran, where seven-year-old Elaheh — known as Ellie — and Homa meet at school. Their families occupy sharply different social worlds: Ellie's mother clings to a self-image of aristocratic descent even after the death of Ellie's father forces them into reduced circumstances, while Homa's household is warm and financially constrained, her father jailed for opposing the monarchy.
The narrative, told from Ellie's perspective, follows the two women across more than seven decades, weaving their personal histories through some of the most consequential episodes in modern Iranian history — the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the 1979 Revolution, the fundamentalist regime that followed, and the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. BookPage describes the result as "a riveting saga" that covers the "violence and brutality" of the post-revolutionary period alongside the intimate geography of a lifelong friendship.

The Central Tensions: Class, Conviction, and Betrayal

From childhood, Ellie and Homa are drawn together across a class divide that never fully closes. Ellie absorbs her mother's social ambitions; Homa channels her father's political convictions into a determination to become a lawyer and champion women's rights.
Kamali maps the friction between these trajectories with precision: Kirkus Reviews notes that "Ellie's well-intentioned but naïve approach stands in stark contrast to Homa's commitment to human rights, particularly for women, and her willingness to risk personal safety to secure those rights." An accidental betrayal by Ellie derails Homa's plans for a legal career, and the estrangement that follows — Ellie and Homa are not speaking when the story's present-day sections begin in the United States — forms the novel's central wound.
BookPage quotes Homa's chilling observation about political erosion: "That's how losses of rights build. They start small. And then soon, the rights are stripped in droves."

Significance: The Shir Zan and the Broader Cultural Stakes

The novel's title carries deliberate weight. The concept of the shir zan — literally "lion women," those Iranian women who effect change through courage — recurs as both a structural motif and a moral argument.
Kamali has stated in her author's note, as quoted by BookPage, that "writing about Iranian women has been a central theme of my life," and The Lion Women of Tehran represents the fullest expression of that commitment across her three novels. The book situates Ellie and Homa's story within a tradition of women's resistance that runs from mid-century political activism through the Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022, giving the personal narrative a documentary urgency.
BookPage notes that Kamali "closely examines how the country's changing regimes have affected women's rights" — a throughline that connects the historical drama to its contemporary resonance.
Back cover of The Lion Women of Tehran: green background with gold floral border design, white and gold text quotes, barcode and ISBN at bottom
Back cover of The Lion Women of Tehran: green background with gold floral border design, white and gold text quotes, barcode and ISBN at bottom

Craft and Reception

Kamali is a New York Times bestselling author and 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Award recipient whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages — a track record that speaks to both critical and commercial reach. The Lion Women of Tehran was a Book of the Month Club Main Selection, with the club praising it as "a compelling historical read that is at its heart about friendship."
People described it as "an evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism." Ms. Magazine called it "a beautifully written story of friendship and feminism."
Kirkus Reviews, whose full review was posted ahead of publication, highlighted Kamali's handling of "themes of jealousy — even in close friendships" and the "heartaches associated with emigration," crediting her with weaving Iran's broader political upheaval into a narrative that remains rooted in individual lives. The novel's cultural texture — frequent references to Iranian food, customs, and the sights of Tehran's Grand Bazaar — is noted by multiple sources as one of its distinguishing pleasures.

Who Will Find It Most Rewarding, and Where It Demands More

Readers drawn to epic friendship narratives with a strong historical axis — those who responded to Kamali's earlier The Stationery Shop — are the novel's natural audience. The sweeping time frame, from 1950 to 2022, is the source of both the book's ambition and its principal challenge: sustaining emotional intimacy across seven decades of upheaval, regime change, and geographic displacement asks a great deal of both author and reader.
Some readers may find that the novel's commitment to historical comprehensiveness occasionally competes with the pace of the personal story. The narrative is told entirely from Ellie's perspective, which grounds the reader in one consciousness but also filters Homa — arguably the more politically dramatic figure — at one remove.
Readers seeking a more equal split between the two women's inner lives should enter with that structural choice in mind. For those willing to engage with both the sweep and the weight, BookPage puts it plainly: "Prepare to lose yourself."

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN | Kirkus Reviews

    kirkusreviews.com

  3. Further reading
  4. 2
    Marjan Kamali — author profile

    Marjan Kamali, LuvemBooks

  5. 3
    The Lion Women of Tehran • Marjan Kamali

    marjankamali.com

  6. 4
    Book Review: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

    feministbookclub.com

  7. 5
    The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali – Book Review

    emmakatebooks.com

  8. 6
    THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN BY MARJAN KAMALI: BOOK REVIEW BY LINDA S. GUNTHER - The RavensPerch

    theravensperch.com

  9. 7
    Book review of The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

    bookpage.com

  10. 8
    Review and Summary: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali — Ashley Hajimirsadeghi

    ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com

  11. 9
    The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali - The Lion Women of Tehran Discussion Guide - LibGuides at Ramapo Catskill Library System

    guides.rcls.org

  12. 10
    The Lion Women of Tehran | Book by Marjan Kamali | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

    simonandschuster.com

Age & Reading Level

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Content to know about

political imprisonment and state violence
depiction of authoritarian repression of women's rights
death of a named real-world figure (Mahsa Amini) in police custody

Skip if you want an intimate dual-perspective character study rather than a sweeping historical saga

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More by Marjan Kamali

On Amazon

The Stationery Shop

Marjan Kamali

Same author, earlier novel — a Tehran love story interrupted by the 1953 CIA-backed coup, for readers who want Kamali's precise historical eye in a tighter, more romantic frame.

Set in 1953 Tehran during one of Iran's most pivotal political moments, The Stationery Shop follows two young lovers separated by a street riot and a devastating act of deception. Where The Lion Women of Tehran spans seven decades, this novel is more intimate in scope — a single sundered relationship traced across continents and years. Readers drawn to Kamali's lyrical prose and her feel for how history crushes private lives will feel immediately at home.

If you liked The Lion Women of Tehran

In our catalogue

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby Page

A long female friendship tested by time, secrets, and unspoken grievances — closer in tone to The Lion Women of Tehran's emotional core than its historical scale.

In our catalogue

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

Multi-generational saga of women persisting under occupation and discrimination — epic in scope, rooted in a specific national trauma most Western readers encounter here first.

On Amazon

The Swallows of Kabul

Yasmina Khadra

Women's lives under theocratic repression in an Islamic-majority city — spare, urgent, and unsparing about what authoritarian rule costs at street level.

Not your thing?

In our catalogue

The Alice Network

Kate Quinn

For readers who wanted the female-friendship-across-class premise but found seven decades of political history too heavy — propulsive dual-timeline thriller, same loyalty-and-betrayal spine.