On a holy mountain in the depths of Persia there is a cave with a mysterious cuneiform carving deep inside it. Aga Akbar, a deaf-mute boy from the mountain, develops his own private script from these symbols and writes passionately of his life, his family and his efforts to make sense of the changes the twentieth century brings to his country. Exiled in Holland a generation later, Akbar's son Ishmael struggles to decipher the notebook, reflecting how his own political activities have forced him to flee his country and abandon his family. As he gets closer to the heart of his father's story, he unravels the intricate tale of how the silent world of a village carpet-mender was forced to give way to one where the increasingly hostile environment of modern Iran has brought the family both love and sacrifice.
The Reviews
beautifully evoked in often touching and amusing detail My "Father's Notebook" is an intriguing, complex and often playful novel that deserves attentionScotland on Sunday
"The evocation of life on the new ground, literally, of the Dutch polder is only one example of how well Kader Abdolah writes. With seamlessly interwoven quotations from Persian and Dutch literature, deft storytelling and affectionate humour, he offers the reader buoyancy as well as weight. In Susan Massotty's translation, My Father's Notebook is a gift to English readers."
Independent
Paperback
336 pages
Price: £7.99
ISBN: 9781841959276 Other editions
Paperback
Kader Abdolah, (a pen name created in memoriam to friends who dies under the persecution of the current Iranian regime) was born in Iran in 1954. While a student of physics in Tehran, he joined a secret leftist party that fought against the dictatorship of the shah and the subsequent dictatorship of the ayatollahs. Abdolah wrote for an illegal journal and clandestinely published two books in Iran. In 1988, at the invitation of the United Nations, he arrived in the Netherlands as a political refugee. He now writes in Dutch and is the author of three novels, including My Father's Notebook, and two collections of short stories, as well as works of non-fiction.
