A spoiled and self-absorbed Mamokgethi Pule’s life is brought to an abrupt halt by an unplanned pregnancy. As her daughter Thato grows, she begins to develop otherworldly powers ranging from visions, to seeing the dead, to healing by touch. A young pastor, Solomon Khumalo, is desperate to prove himself by preaching the word of God to a large and loyal congregation. When he discovers Thato’s powers, he makes Mamokgethi a tempting offer: in exchange for money, he would pass off Thato’s healing powers as his own. As the pastor’s popularity and thirst for power grows, Thato finds herself increasingly haunted by the past. The ripples of a family tragedy that happened in the family 30 years ago, creates a burden on her young shoulders as she tries to solve it. The Invisible Strings is a story about the past bleeding into the present, the living and the dead, and the scourge of charismatic pastors.

A spoiled and self-absorbed Mamokgethi Pule’s life is brought to an abrupt halt by an unplanned pregnancy. As her daughter Thato grows, she begins to develop otherworldly powers ranging from visions, to seeing the dead, to healing by touch. A young pastor, Solomon Khumalo, is desperate to prove himself by preaching the word of God to a large and loyal congregation. When he discovers Thato’s powers, he makes Mamokgethi a tempting offer: in exchange for money, he would pass off Thato’s healing powers as his own. As the pastor’s popularity and thirst for power grows, Thato finds herself increasingly haunted by the past. The ripples of a family tragedy that happened in the family 30 years ago, creates a burden on her young shoulders as she tries to solve it. The Invisible Strings is a story about the past bleeding into the present, the living and the dead, and the scourge of charismatic pastors.

From the nationally bestselling author of the “powerful, heartbreaking” (Shelf Awareness) The Stationery Shop, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives. Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences. Written with Marjan Kamali’s signature “evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful” (Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light) prose, The Lion Women of Tehran is a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young, and the way love and courage transforms our lives.

From the nationally bestselling author of the “powerful, heartbreaking” (Shelf Awareness) The Stationery Shop, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives. Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences. Written with Marjan Kamali’s signature “evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful” (Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light) prose, The Lion Women of Tehran is a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young, and the way love and courage transforms our lives.