Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith

A mystical tale of the lives of a family of Jewish women, 'Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith' follows these women from Iran to Istanbul and finally to Los Angeles.

The narrator of the story, Lili, is the daughter of Roxana, who left her home, her daughter and her husband on the Avenue of Faith in Tehran, to live a life of freedom. She manages to escape Iran without any papers or identification and lives a quiet, meager existence in Istanbul for more than a decade. Though the story is told by Lili, it begins with the story of her relatives, long before she was born.

The novel begins at the end of the eighteenth century and manages to combine the turbulent, factual history of Iran with the tale of a woman who can fly. It also tracks the difficulties faced by the Jews in Iran during the Nazi regime in Europe and then what the Jewish people went through during the Shah's corrupt regime and the period after it was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Overall, 'Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith' is a great tale with many interesting and strong women who command respect wherever they are across the world. Not all of the characters are so respectable though; some characters are selfish, soulless women who do whatever they need to survive. The novel also addresses loss and the depression that follows.

This is really a lovely blend of fact and fiction with admirable characters. You'll get so caught up trying to figure out what really happened to Roxana that you won't realize when the book is over and will keep thinking about her story for days.