November 20, 2025, by Jessica Bamford for Dreamland Books and Yarn 

Last summer, the New York Times published their list of the Top 100 Books of the 21st Century (so far), and the Readers’ Choice version of the list had “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante in the Number 1 spot. Maybe you’ve read and loved this book. Maybe, like me, you read it and you’re not really sure what all the fuss is about. Maybe you haven’t picked it up yet, and I certainly wouldn’t want to dissuade you just because the book wasn’t a huge hit for me – the readers of America have spoken! 

The book I am recommending today reminded me a lot of “My Brilliant Friend” in its themes, but I enjoyed it much more. “The Lion Women of Tehran” by Marjan Kamali opens in 1950s Iran and follows its protagonists through to the present day. It echoes Ferrante’s celebrated novel in its themes of female friendship and the drive for achievement in an oppressive society, but Kamali’s writing style just clicked better for me.

Our main characters are Ellie and Homa, two young girls from different classes in Tehran’s social hierarchy, whose circumstances overlap just long enough to form a lifelong friendship. They come of age in a fairly progressive time period and enjoy robust educational opportunities, but the 1970s is fraught with political upheaval and the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 brings in a whole new social order and a stripping away of women’s rights. One of the women immigrates to the United States while the other stays in Tehran to carry on her fight for a just society, but their lives and futures continue to be intertwined.

This book is a beautiful story about friendship, love, loyalty, immigration, sacrifice, and more, but it also illuminated a history I knew very little about and underscored the point that equal rights in a society cannot be taken for granted.