Once Upon a Time in Persia

(Hardback)

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Description

An introspective and entrancing fairytale, this spectacular debut from Iranian-Italian author Sahar Doustar asks us to consider our place in the grand beauty of the wider world.

Once upon a time in Persia, there lived a girl who learned to recognise her reflection, not in a mirror, but in the shape of the stars and the earth around her.

On her wedding day, she sees herself in a mirror for the first time and does not recognise herself. Heartbroken, she runs away, mistakenly believing another bride has taken her place. Her love desperately follows her, trying to persuade her that the reflection she saw was in fact herself. Protesting, the woman must explain to her love that her shape cannot be contained so neatly, for she is the shape of water in the lake, of the sun when it rises and sets, and the moon when full and at crescent.

Once Upon a Time in Persia promises to entrance readers with its painstakingly detailed illustrations inspired by the rich vivacity of Persian illuminated manuscripts, and prompts them to celebrate their place in the grand beauty of the wider world.

Reviews

"The book's exquisite illustrations feel like images from an old scroll rubbing their eyes and waking up to remind us that we are one with the world."
-- "New York Times Book Review" (8/20/2023 12:00:00 AM)

Author Bio

Sahar Doustar was born in Tehran in 1985. She studied at the University of Science and Technology of Iran where she graduated in Architecture and Engineering. She is currently attending her two-year specialization in Graphic Design for Illustration at ISIA, in Urbino.Daniela Tieni was born in Rome in 1982. She graduated in Scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome; subsequently she obtained a Master in Art Therapy at the Roma Tre University. Currently she works as a freelance illustrator for Italian and foreign magazines and publishing houses.