cover image The Rose Hotel

The Rose Hotel

Rahimeh Andalibian. Nightingale Press, $14.99 paper (410p) ISBN 978-0-615-67223-6

Clinical psychologist Andalibian%E2%80%99s %E2%80%9Ctrue-life novel%E2%80%9D is a dramatic chronicling of her family escapades during the 1979 Iranian revolution. Born the day her stern and religious father opened the Rose Hotel, Andalibian enjoys the fruits of her family%E2%80%99s wealth. Joined by her four brothers, Hadi, Zain, Iman, and the eldest, Abdollah, their idyllic life together is meandering yet meaningful. But when rapists begin terrorizing the village, her father is charged with capturing the criminals, whom he must hold on his hotel grounds. Then Abdollah is accused of a crime and disappears. Though Andalibian%E2%80%99s father uproots the family to Tehran and then London, the whereabouts of Abdollah remain a mystery, and the family must move forward. Andalibian%E2%80%99s multilayered tale flows easily and is beautifully steeped in culture and Iranian history. The author has created an ornately imagined tapestry of her personal history%E2%80%94filling in the blanks with the kind of creative license reserved for authors who have been there and lived through it.