Reviews
"Aylin Sedighi Gabbaizadeh has written a beautiful book about Jewish girls and women living in Iran in the 1930’s. Under the Persimmon Tree is a story of love, sacrifice and sisterhood that is that rare thing – a book that transports you to different world but makes you feel as if you know it as well as you know the contours of your own heart and face. This is a story to be gobbled up and then savored. "
- Nomi Eve, author of The Family Orchard and Henna House
"Aylin Gabbaizadeh’s debut novel offers a compelling glimpse into the lives of Tehran’s Jewish community in the 1930s and 1940s. With empathy and historical insight, she follows the intertwined paths of Jasmine and Goli, revealing a world where family, faith, tradition, and the relentless expectation of bearing children—especially sons—shaped every aspect of a woman's life. An illuminating novel which introduces readers to a history that deserves to be more widely known."
— Esther Amini, author of Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America
"Aylin Sedighi Gabbaizadeh's heart-rending debut opens a door into the lost world of her own family in Tehran's Jewish community during the 1930s and '40s. At the novel's center are Goli and Jasmine, two girls who struggle to find a path to independence and fulfillment away from the debilitating demands of their strict, patriarchal society. This tragic, powerful, and illuminating novel continues to haunt me."
- Lauren Belfer, New York Times bestselling author of And After the Fire and Ashton Hall.