Summary

In 1987, Roya adjusts to life as a young adult woman in Tehran. During this time, Roya befriends a woman named Leila, who is married to Ali’s friend Gilgamesh. Leila’s relationship with Gilgamesh is an abusive one, as he routinely deprives her of basic freedoms. While Ali and Gilgamesh take a hunting trip together, Leila stays over at the Shams household with Roya. The pair become fast friends, and Leila mischievously asks Roya if she wants to take a trip to a nearby lake, which Roya surprises herself by agreeing to.

Cyrus wakes up in his hotel room in Brooklyn in the present day of the novel with Zee’s thumb in his mouth. The pair have a habit of sleeping in the same bed with each other even though they are rarely intimate and have never disclosed this information to their...