The Temporary Bride
A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran
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A relationship was a mathematical formula: the correct variables of age, beauty, morality and finances were entered and the output was a successful, peaceful marriage. It couldn't be, therefore, that their Iranian son could feel desire for someone six years his senior,someone who didn't come to him pure and untouched. I was an amusing visitor from another world and soon enough I should return to it, fading quietly into an anecdote ...
In her thirties, Jennifer Klinec abandons a corporate job to launch a cooking school from her London flat. Raised in Canada to Hungarian-Croatian parents, she has already travelled to countries most people are fearful of, in search of ancient recipes. Her quest leads her to Iran where, hair discreetly covered and eyes modest, she is introduced to a local woman who will teach her the secrets of the Persian kitchen.
Vahid, her son, is suspicious of the strange foreigner who turns up in his mother's kitchen; he is unused to seeing an independent woman. But a compelling attraction pulls them together and then pits them against harsh Iranian laws and customs.
Getting under the skin of one of the most complex and fascinating nations on earth, The Temporary Bride is a soaring story of being loved, being fed, and the struggle to belong.
In her thirties, Jennifer Klinec abandons a corporate job to launch a cooking school from her London flat. Raised in Canada to Hungarian-Croatian parents, she has already travelled to countries most people are fearful of, in search of ancient recipes. Her quest leads her to Iran where, hair discreetly covered and eyes modest, she is introduced to a local woman who will teach her the secrets of the Persian kitchen.
Vahid, her son, is suspicious of the strange foreigner who turns up in his mother's kitchen; he is unused to seeing an independent woman. But a compelling attraction pulls them together and then pits them against harsh Iranian laws and customs.
Getting under the skin of one of the most complex and fascinating nations on earth, The Temporary Bride is a soaring story of being loved, being fed, and the struggle to belong.
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- Published: Sep 03 2015
- Pages: 288
- 197 x 127mm
- ISBN: 9781844088249
Press Reviews
- The Lady
A moving meditation on love across cultures and the evocative power of food
- Herald
A cross-cultural romance with a backdrop of Middle Eastern cuisine. Conveys the fear and excitement experienced by a couple trying to get to know each other in a strictly controlled society
- Sydney Morning Herald
The writing is vivid and sensual, the city of Yazd where she stays comes alive - the people, the streets, the scents, and her description of, among other things, a slaughterhouse is powerful. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a film
- Irish Examiner
The Temporary Bride is a beautifully written window into a world few of us have ever entered: contemporary Iran in all its complexity. Its sprawling cities and street-side eateries come to life, but most vivid is the portrait of ordinary Iranians: cooking, sharing, living, in a world where Westerners are unwelcome. A book for travellers - of the world and the senses
- The Times
This is amour sans frontières. An adventure in a globalised world. Love laughs at rigorously controlled borders
- Good Housekeeping - Best non-fiction
A moving memoir about love against the odds
Anya Von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing
Jennifer Klinec went to Iran looking for food and found forbidden love. She writes about both with equal eloquence and panache. An absorbing, page-turning tale of one strong woman's curiosity and daring that ventures behind Iran's closed doors