New York: Doubleday, (1989) dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's second novel, set in post-Revolutionary Iran. "Withdrawing into his books and studies, Hadi Besharat constructs a fragile world, impervious ever to the reality under his own roof. . . Still, Hadi Besharat's ivory tower is undisturbed until his prize student is killed in the Iran-Iraq War. Then the alien new order intrudes with a violent force that shatters his fondest illusions and threatens his marriage, his family, even the intellectual life he cherishes. Poignant and arresting, a provocative story of crisis and faith, change and continuity." The author is the late husband of Anne Tyler, and in addition to being a writer he was also a child psychiatrist. 179 pp. ISBN: 0-385238797.