Embroderies

From the author of the critically acclaimed two-volume graphic memoir PERSEPOLIS, this is an illustrated collection of anecdotes about the intimate lives of Iranian women. As a 20-year-old Marjane and her female relatives and neighbors sit around the tea samovar, they discuss men, marriage, and sexual experiences. Included are tragicomic accounts of a 13-year-old fleeing her marriage to a 69-year-old, a woman´s absurd attempts to use white magic to keep her boyfriend´s love, and the reasons why it is better to be a mistress than a wife. The "embroideries" of the title refer to the highly colored tales being told, and more literally as a term for surgical procedures that sew up the cervix to "restore" a woman´s virginity.