Sakht pūst Persiska (Farsi) 2022

Hard Shell is a novel about a father—about his repeated departures and returns, about an unceasing rain, and about images that never fade from memory. The book opens with a torrential downpour in northern Iran, a rain so relentless that it loosens the soil and exposes a cemetery, including the grave of Davoud, the narrator’s father, whose fate is bound to water in various ways.

This event animates the narrative: time folds back, and we follow a man marked by strange habits and constant returns. With a precise rhythm, short chapters, and frames that resemble photographic snapshots, Sanaz Asadi crafts a compelling, lyrical account of loss and memory—one that continually offers the reader fresh opportunities to envision its protagonist. The novel’s overarching metaphor is the enduring absence and recurring return of fathers in our history.