Summary

The novel opens with a section titled “The Escalator.” Kimiâ Sadr, the novel’s narrator, asks her father Darius, why he never uses escalators. He replies that “Escalators are for them” (11), meaning French citizens. Kimiâ explains that this is partly the inspiration for this story. She explains that her story will be non-linear. The chapter ends with Kimîa referencing an incident in 1994 that she and the family call “THE EVENT” (13).

In Chapter 1, “The Mazandaran Wind” Kimiâ is sitting in a waiting room at Cochin Hospital in Paris, France. She observes the other women in the waiting room and wonders if she has the same lost look on her face. She feels “emotionless” (19). She is alone in the waiting room; this time a man named Pierre, the sperm donor, is not with her. She reflects that the women would probably hate her if...