The drum tower

the long version

The Drum Tower is Farnoosh Moshiri's fourth work of fiction concerned with the deleterious effects of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This novel, told by a mentally ill, 16-year-old girl, depicts the fall of Drum Tower, the house of a family descended from generations of War Ministers. Rich in characters--Talkhoon, who struggles to control the winds she hears inside her head and who tells the story; Assad, a man made evil by his love for her; Anvar Angha, Talkhoon's grandfather who has devoted his life to writing a book about the Simorgh (the mythical bird of knowledge; the Persian Phoenix) but never completes it; Soraya, Talkhoon's mother, whom we never meet but about whom myriad and contradictory stories abound--and rich in family secrets, this novel chronicles the early days of the revolution, the ruthlessness and opportunism of the competing factions, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard, the chaos and murder in the streets of Tehran, the arrests and executions, as experienced by the members of this family.