The Stationery Shop of Tehran

Roya and her mother prepare food for the engagement party to be held at their house. Roya speculates about whether she will manage to maintain her close relationship with her mother and whether the house will still feel like home after her marriage.

Bahman and his family arrive late for the party. Mrs. Aslan is dressed in funerary black and insists on wearing a woolen shawl, despite the heat. Her husband and son appear worn and agitated.

Bahman stations his mother in an isolated corner of the room. When Roya approaches Mrs. Aslan, she is surprised to see that Mr. Fakhri standing over her, engaged in a heated discussion. When Mrs. Aslan sees Roya, she begins sarcastically congratulating and thanking Mr. Fakhri for acting as matchmaker between Roya and her son. Again, she makes an obscure reference to a lost child, referring to Fakhri as the kind of “perfect gentleman” who would never harm “one […] child” (75). Bahman kneels by his mother and embraces her as she sobs. Her rouge and lipstick stain his shirt red.

In the evening after the party, Zari burns incense to dispel jealous energies, warning Roya that enemies might chesm her—i.e., give her the “evil eye” (78).

Roya and Bahman attend a party at the house of Bahman’s friend Jahangir. Jahangir owns a gramophone and an extensive collection of records by international artists. Roya is accosted by Shahla, who treats her disdainfully and makes her feel very uncomfortable. Bahman responds by publicly and repeatedly kissing his fiancée.

Jahangir puts on a tango record. First, Jahangir dances with Bahman then Bahman and Roya gradually master the steps together. Roya is deeply stirred and aroused by the music and the dance and reflects on the role of destiny in their relationship. As they dance, Bahman comments that she has saved him. She asks if he is referring to his apparently reduced interest in politics. He responds by expressing his anxiety that Mossadegh will soon be overthrown. Given the current climate, he observes that it is impossible not to be political. He also points out that Shahla’s father works for the Shah’s police.

Half-jokingly, Roya asks if she should worry that Shahla will chesm her. Bahman mocks the “evil eye” belief as mere superstition, and argues that they are destined to be together. Roya counters that surely believing in destiny is no less superstitious than believing in the “evil eye.”

The following Tuesday, Bahman and his family disappear without a trace. Roya desperately pleads with Mr. Fakhri for information, despite knowing that such displays of emotion in front of a man are not socially acceptable. When Roya declares that she is aware of all of his political activities, Mr. Fakhri hints that he, too, is under observation and she realizes that her behavior might be putting him in danger. Mr. Fakhri tells Roya that Bahman is “busy” (91) and that their communication must take place through letters, which he himself will convey hidden between the pages of books, for the time being. Roya draws some comfort from the knowledge that this situation presumably means that Bahman is in hiding, not in prison.

Roya gives her first letter to Fakhri and awaits Bahman’s reply. When it arrives, it is inside a volume of Rumi’s poetry. She is unable to read the letter at once because she is waylaid with cooking duties and then forced to listen to a long lecture from her sister, who feels vindicated in her skepticism about Roya’s engagement. The letter is encouraging and loving, although Bahman discloses neither his whereabouts nor the reasons behind his disappearance. Roya replies at once, with a further stream of questions. Bahman continues to reply in an evasive but optimistic manner. He stresses the pivotal importance of the historical moment and writes that he is looking forward to their future and the children they will have together.

Each time she returns to the Stationery Shop, Roya notes the presence of government police.

As Roya and Zari lie in their room, Zari admits that she knows about Bahman’s letters but denies having read them. When Zari speaks in mocking tones of Roya’s lovesickness, Roya retorts that her sister cannot understand because she has never been in love. Zari responds with a series of questions that display a curiously strong awareness of what being in love is like.

Bahman continues to reply regularly and Roya collects his letters together in a tin, memorizing their contents. The second-to-last letter he sends to her, which Mr. Fakhri places on the same page as the first Rumi poem they read together, shifts from speaking of love to a discussion of the political situation and the danger of foreign influence.

Roya confesses her anxiety to Zari, who encourages her to return to the Stationery Shop and see if a further letter has arrived. Mr. Fakhri is initially evasive and formal, but after a mysterious female figure appears at the back of the shop he gives her a letter without hiding it, looking intensely agitated and warning her to be careful. The letter is a proposal that they bring their marriage forward and wed in the registry office the next week. They arrange to meet on Sepah Square at midday.

A first attempted coup is thwarted by Mossadegh. After hours of tense radio silence, Roya and her family are relieved and Roya grows hopeful that she will soon be reunited with Bahman. There is speculation about American support for the coup but Roya, who idealizes American culture and loves cinema and jazz, is reluctant to believe it. Protesters pour onto the streets, apparently in support of Mossadegh, although Roya’s father suspects they are in the pay of the Americans.

After three days everything seems calmer, and Roya looks forward to her imminent reunion with Bahman. Roya goes to the local hammam baths and is treated to lengthy and unwanted political discourses, first from the royalist attendant who washes her hair and massages her scalp and then from the communist who exfoliates her skin.

Despite her family’s worries, Roya sets out alone to keep her appointment with Bahman. She sees a growing group of protesters approaching the square, but initially does not take them very seriously. Gradually their numbers swell and she is horrified when the police and the army arrive and join the protest instead of quelling it. As Roya looks anxiously for Bahman, Mr. Fakhri approaches and says that he must tell her something. He is shot before he gets a chance to speak and dies of his injuries. As Roya follows his dying gaze, she sees the Stationery Shop burning.

Roya returns home to find her family still sleeping. This time the coup has been successful and Mossadegh has fled.

Zari seeks to calm and console her sister. There is no news of Bahman and Roya begins to suspect that even some of their friends might be double agents, seeking to trap her in anti-shah polemics. Roya dreams about Mr. Fakhri in the Stationery Shop. He refers to the idea of destiny again but this time he states that it was Roya’s destiny to suffer in love and lose Bahman, who never really loved her. Roya reflects on how easily she could have died in Mr. Fakhri’s stead, and wonders whether that was what was really meant to happen.