Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur

Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026

The internationally acclaimed masterpiece from one of Iran's most influential writers - a powerful and essential tale of female freedom

'The best feminist novel I know. It's thrilling, beautiful and hilarious' Johanne Lykke Holm
'A courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer' Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis

Women Without Men traces the interwoven destinies of five women – including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher – as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran.

Drawing on elements of Islamic mysticism and recent Iranian history, this unforgettable novel depicts women escaping the narrow confines of family and society, and imagines their future living in a world without men.

Translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh

Parsipur is a courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer -- Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis
Using the techniques of both the fabulist and the polemicist, Parsipur continues her protest against traditional Persian gender relations in this charming, powerful novel * Publishers Weekly *
Gracefully brutal.. Parsipur writes with the surface simplicity of a tale-teller. But she drops in prosaic, stinging touches of realism - of gossip, envy, suppressed thoughts and misunderstandings * New York Review of Books *

Shahrnush Parsipur (Author)
Shahrnush Parsipur was born in Iran in 1946. She began her career as a writer of fiction and producer at Iranian National Television and Radio. She was imprisoned for nearly five years by the Islamist government without being formally charged. Shortly after her release, she published Women Without Men and was arrested and jailed again, this time for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality.
While still banned in Iran, the novel became an underground best-seller there, and has been translated into many languages around the world. She is also the author of Touba and the Meaning of Night, among many other books, and now lives in exile in Northern California.

Faridoun Farrokh (Translator)
Faridoun Farrokh was born and educated in Iran, where he began a teaching career. As an academic, his research has focused on eighteenth-century English literature, contemporary Iranian fiction, as well as literary translation. His English language translation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women Without Men was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780241792513
ISBN 10	0241792517
Title	Women Without Men
Author	Shahrnush Parsipur
Series	Penguin International Writers
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2026-03-26
Number of pages	112
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.