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BookTalk

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

2022-12-08 19:00:00 2022-12-08 20:30:00 America/Chicago BookTalk BookTalk reads popular fiction covering a range of topics. Chicago Ridge Public Library - Meeting Room

Thursday, December 08
7:00pm - 8:30pm

Add to Calendar 2022-12-08 19:00:00 2022-12-08 20:30:00 America/Chicago BookTalk BookTalk reads popular fiction covering a range of topics. Chicago Ridge Public Library - Meeting Room

BookTalk reads popular fiction covering a range of topics.

Beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick, in damp and lovely County Mayo, sits the small, sheltered village of Ballinacroagh. To the exotic Aminpour sisters, Ireland looks like a much-needed safe haven. It has been seven years since Marjan Aminpour fled Iran with her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla, and she hopes that in Ballinacroagh, a land of “crazed sheep and dizzying roads,” they might finally find a home.

From the kitchen of an old pastry shop on Main Mall, the sisters set about creating a Persian oasis. Soon sensuous wafts of cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron float through the streets–an exotic aroma that announces the opening of the Babylon Café, and a shock to a town that generally subsists on boiled cabbage and Guinness served at the local tavern. And it is an affront to the senses of Ballinacroagh’s uncrowned king, Thomas McGuire. After trying to buy the old pastry shop for years and failing, Thomas is enraged to find it occupied–and by foreigners, no less.

But the mysterious, spicy fragrances work their magic on the townsfolk, and soon, business is booming. Marjan is thrilled with the demand for her red lentil soup, abgusht stew, and rosewater baklava–and with the transformation in her sisters. Young Layla finds first love, and even tense, haunted Bahar seems to be less nervous.

And in the stand-up-comedian-turned-priest Father Fergal Mahoney, the gentle, lonely widow Estelle Delmonico, and the headstrong hairdresser Fiona Athey, the sisters find a merry band of supporters against the close-minded opposition of less welcoming villagers stuck in their ways. But the idyll is soon broken when the past rushes back to threaten the Amnipours once more, and the lives they left behind in revolution-era Iran bleed into the present.

Infused with the textures and scents, trials and triumphs,s of two distinct cultures, Pomegranate Soup is an infectious novel of magical realism. This richly detailed story, highlighted with delicious recipes, is a delectable journey into the heart of Persian cooking and Irish living. 

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Book Discussions | Adult Programs |

TAGS: | |

Chicago Ridge Public Library

refdesk@chicagoridgelibrary.org
Phone: 708-423-7753

Hours
We're closed Sunday March 31
Mon, Mar 25 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Tue, Mar 26 9:00AM to 9:00PM
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Fri, Mar 29 9:00AM to 5:00PM
Sat, Mar 30 9:00AM to 5:00PM
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