Audio: Rosewater and Soda Bread

By: Marsha Mehran

Narrated by: Donia Bijan

Series: Pomegranate Soup, Book 2

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Release date: 04-11-23

Fiction / to review

Audio narration:

Good narration. You are gently brought into the story. It was easy to follow along too and the narrator had a smooth voice for it all

Story:

I feel like I read book 1 a million years ago, but it was only 7 years ago. But still a long time. When I saw this as audio I could not say no.

It is a family centered story, told around their café. And the food fills the book and makes you hungry. There are of course also some recipes.

Three sisters fled Iran after the revolution and came to Ireland. They set up an amazing café and is now a part of the village (even if some have doubts.) In this one Marjan, the eldest meets a newcomer and maybe there is a chance for her to find love again. Bahar the middle one keeps disappearing and they do not know what she is up to. While the youngest, Layle is just a teen and is thinking about her relationship and taking the next step.

Then there are villagers doing their thing too. Estelle who finds a woman on the beach. But this is 80s Ireland and it looks like she tried to have an abortion. Drama.

Not a lot happens, so some might find it slow at times. It was this easy gentle listen.

More than a year has passed since Marjan, Bahar, and Layla, the beautiful Iranian Aminpour sisters, sought refuge in the quaint Irish town of Ballinacroagh. Opening the beguiling Babylon Café, they charmed the locals with their warm hearts and delectable Persian cuisine, bringing a saffron-scented spice to the once-sleepy village.

But when a young woman with a dark secret literally washes up on Clew Bay Beach, the sisters’ world is once again turned upside down. With pale skin and webbed hands, the girl is otherworldly, but her wounds tell a more earthly (and graver) story–one that sends the strict Catholic town into an uproar. The Aminpours rally around the newcomer, but each sister must also contend with her own transformation–Marjan tests her feelings for love with a dashing writer, Bahar takes on a new spiritual commitment with the help of Father Mahoney, and Layla matures into a young woman when she and her boyfriend, Malachy, step up their hot and heavy relationship.