Marjan Kamali, an Iranian-American author, was born in Turkey and spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran, and the United States. She studied English literature at Berkeley and earned her master's degrees from Columbia and New York Universities. She is currently a fellow at the Center for Women's Studies at Brandeis University and lives in the Boston area with her family. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
Darja believes that she has discovered the perfect gift for her daughter's twenty-fifth birthday – finding the ideal husband. Mina, however, grew fed up with her mother's endless search and folders full of seemingly ideal Iranian-American bachelors. Having spent her childhood in Tehran and her youth in New York, Mina has experienced cultural clashes firsthand.
After a last-ditch attempt at reunification, mother and daughter embark on a journey to Iran. They become part of Persian culture again and slowly find a common language.
The Joint Tea Party is a touching novel about family, love and finding a place where we truly belong.
"From Tehran in the 1970s to New York in the 1990s - a beautiful story about love, the relationship between mother and daughter and their cultural identity."
Jill Davis
Translated from English by Amela Kavaz.