“Standing in that temple, staring into the fire that had been burning for hundreds of years, I felt the ghosts of my family all around me. Their soft presence raised the hair on my arms and tickled at my eyelashes.”

A very heartfelt coming of age story. I loved how this book gave a look into the Bahá’í and Zoroastrian faiths in Iran. Darius felt more middle school than high school to me, maybe because of how the book avoided more than an shadowed reference to sexual attraction and puberty beyond body odor, but it didn’t impact the story or growth of the character. Getting to know far away relatives was so relatable, and I felt like I was there for many of the meals (especially with the mouth watering description of the Yazd desserts) 

 The Lord of the Rings references especially stole my heart as those were also my comfort reads as a teenager.

Weird reference of falafel coming “from Egypt or Israel or somewhere else entirely” at the beginning also threw me a bit. The rest of the book showed some beautiful solidarity between minorities in Iran, I hope book 2 expands on this beyond borders and other labels.