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Pomegranate Soup: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Marsha Mehran
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.88
You Save: $6.07 (44%)
New (32) Used (17) from $6.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 58188
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0812972481
EAN: 9780812972481
ASIN: 0812972481
Publication Date: September 12, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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 triumph,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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 Delicious! September 30, 2008
I first read this book after checking it out from the library, and it was so delicious that I had to have a copy. The story is beguiling and the recipes are out of this world. If you need a very grown up bed time story for a stormy night, this is it. If you love food, seasonings, and believe in the magical powers of plants, you will be inspired. Garden writers and food columnists will find plenty of material to quote . . . I haven't read her latest yet, but I will . . .
 `Some of the best recipes are the unwritten ones ..' September 10, 2008
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Sometimes it is good to suspend belief and surrender your imagination to a form of magical realism which can transcend cultural barriers.
Three orphaned sisters, who fled Iran seven years earlier, have found their way to a small town in Ireland where they hope to make a home. They bring with them their heritage, their demons and their hopes for a better future. Marjan, Bahar and Layla open the Babylon Cafe in the heart of Ballinacroagh's Main Mall. The smell of traditional Persian cooking wafting through the Mall works its own magic on many of the townsfolk: business is growing as is acceptance. But the past is not yet finished with the sisters, and their future is threatened.
In part this novel is about the clash of cultures and inherent suspicion about what is different. It is equally about the power of hope and the unifying role of food and the role of senses in life. In many ways, both the characters and the setting are irrelevant to these unifying points. The setting could be small town anywhere, the sisters could have any different cultural heritage. At the same time as each sister confronts her demons, many of the townspeople find the courage to question their own assumptions and values.
The novel contains some delicious recipes which some readers will wish to try, while others of us will simply enjoy the possibility. While many of the characters are lightly drawn stereotypes this doesn't really detract from the power of the novel. A comparatively light read to be sure, but one with a powerful underlying message for those who want to accept it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
tasty and warm August 11, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
When three Iranian Aminpour sisters, Marjan, Bahar and the teenage Layla, arrive in Ballinacroagh, a small town in the east of Ireland, the sleepy town comes to life, stirred by the exotic aromas of cardamom, rosewater and pomegranate soup.
Estelle Delmonico decided to sell the bakery after her husband's death and Marjan Aminpour, a friend of Estelle's niece, Grace from London, is an ideal buyer. Marjan, an accomplished plans to open a café with her delicious food, which she calls Café Babylon. We meet the sisters on their first night before the grand opening, preparing the Persian specialties and worrying about getting customers. Despite the vicious attempts of Thomas McGuire, the Ballinacroagh pub magnate, to make the sisters' enterprise fail, they succeed with the help of the good-natured priest, Fathe Mahoney, and other brilliantly, although roughly sketched town dwellers, get settled and make many friends in the Irish town. The past of the Iranian revolution, which here takes the very personal twist, and still haunts the sisters, can finally be safely stored in the farthest corner of their memories. Their pungent, spicy recipes if just what Ballinacroagh needs...
This heart-warming tale where the villains get punished and the reader can satisfy not only the imagination, but also the virtual hunger (the novel is full of recipes, which mark the beginning of each chapter). The similarities to Joanne Harris's "Chocolat" and to Laura Esquivel's "Like water for chocolate" are obvious, but the seriousness of the spectre of Khomeini gives this novel the originality it needs. I think "Pomegranate Soup" is better than "Chocolate" and more comparable to Esquivel's novel, because of the magic realism and historical background. It is a bit schematic and falls into the sub-genre of "food novels", but I enjoyed it immensely, and food as the means to bridge the cultures and create acceptance appeals to me. "Pomegranate Soup" is a very good debut novel, best read on a cold, rainy autumn day with a cup of hot tea under a cosy blanket!
A happy foodie June 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great addition to "foodie book" collections. No matter where we're from in the world, really, in the end, we all want the same things: work, be happy, feed our families and raise our children to be decent human beings.
 A copy from Chocolate movie! March 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am an Iranian and usually like to read the books that are about my country and heritage. This book is an easy and yumy book to read.
It is more delicious than beautiful because the book is full of Persian recipe so I was hungry the entire time I was reading this book, however the plot of story is very similar to Chocolate book, that later on became a famous hit movie on 2002.
If u enjoy Chocolate, read this book and if you have not seen this movie then reading this book might be more existing.
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