The Prince

1

The Times

Vivid and original ... Memorable reading

2

The Times

[Buchan's] admirable translation conveys the nuances and subtleties of the original while his lucid introduction provides the background.

3

Scotland on Sunday

Stark and hallucinatory

4

New Statesman

Conjures up a disconcerting, deeply evocative world

5

Glascow Herlad

A work of impressive revolutionary style and personal courage... There is no denying the power of Golshiri's writing.. One of the most disturbing novels I have read in a long time

6

Metro

One of the first, and finest, contemporary depictions of the demise of the Iranian aristocracy... The Prince has a ??? drags you deep into a murky history

7

Book Self Description

The 1920s. Iran. In a crumbling house in a provincial town, the last survivor of a deposed dynasty is slowly dying from tuberculosis. The Prince's once magnificent domain has shrunk to his domestic household, where the glories of his ancestors haunt him. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the Prince is tormented by episodes relived of his forbears' callous and whimsical rule. Long-dead relations glare out from photographs gathering dust in the Prince's room, or in his fevered imagination step down from their picture frames to threaten and berate him. Of these phantoms, the most terrifying is his wife Fakhronissa, who taunts him, as in life, with the vigour and potency of his grandfather and his great-grandfather. In his anguish, as his life unravels, the Prince consoles himself by seducing her servant Fakhri.