City of Lies: Love Sex Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran

About this book

In this intimate and unforgettable portrait of modern Tehran a foreign affairs journalist reveals the extraordinary passions and intrigues hidden in the hearts of the citys most ordinary inhabitants. Rich and absorbing this book travels up and down Vali Asr Street Tehrans pulsing thoroughfare from the lavish shopping malls of Tajrish through the smog that lingers over the alleyways and bazaars of the citys southern districts. Ramita Navai gives voice to ordinary Iranians forced to live extraordinary lives: the porn star the aging socialite the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic the dutiful housewife who files for divorce and the old-time thug running a gambling den. In todays Tehran intrigues abound and survival depends on an intricate network of falsehoods: mullahs visit prostitutes local mosques train barely pubescent boys in crowd control tactics and cosmetic surgeons promise to restore girls virginity. Navai paints an intimate portrait of those discreet recesses in a city where the difference between modesty and profanity loyalty and betrayal honor and disgrace is often no more than the believability of a lie.