While reading The Saffron Kitchen, I couldn't resist a takeoff on the beautiful cover photo by David Vintiner. Mine looks a little empty because the book title goes in the archway. I added a misty distant building - perhaps a mosque - instead. The book's setting is Iran and London.
Young girls are told a cautionary tale about a beautiful "wild girl," deaf and dumb (read: heedless of her parents wishes). ..who becomes pregnant. In various tellings of the tale, she is summarily stoned with the help of the village elder or escapes and has her child, or even gets revenge on the cruel village by summoning an earthquake upon them. Everywhere in the world, such tales are told to young women for caution or for subjugation. In the story she has wild hair and green eyes. Since she's turned away, I gave her a rebellious orange chador instead.
If this book appeals to you, here's a synopsis and reader's guide too. Now, to get back to that story...
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