Roseheart

A story about family, set in the 1990s, and told through the sardonic voice of Valerie Kjos. She's a Midwestern Gen X'er whose life is just barely coming together with her live-in boyfriend when his Iranian mother, Goli, comes for a visit that seems to never end. Valerie will have to decide what's more important--doing everything her own way, or her beloved Naveed and his mother, who might not approve if she knew everything about her. But as she's about to learn, Goli has secrets of her own.

"Warm, wise, and laugh-out-loud funny, Roseheart creates a world and invites us in. It's a love story with mother-in-law included, a millennium baby, and cross-cultural kitchens bursting with aromas of Persian and Minnesota cooking. It's also an ode to friendship, family, and finding the way home. Catherine Dehdashti writes with a big heart and a twinkle in her eye."
--Gayla Marty, author, Memory of Trees: a Daughter's Story of a Family Farm

"Sometimes funny, often moving, Roseheart is a novel that reads like a diary, and also like a mystery, as the story builds toward a surprising revelation. And for anyone with a fondness for or curiosity about Persian culture and cuisine, Roseheart offers special rewards."
--Jeremy Iggers, author, Garden of Eating: Food, Sex, and the Hunger for Meaning

"CatherineDehdashti's delightful debut novel, Roseheart, is both a sweet love story and a fascinating peek at modern Persian culture. It is an engrossing look at that eternal triangle--husband, wife and an unforgettable mother-in-law."
Anne Gillespie Lewis, author, So Far Away in the World: Stories from the Swedish Twin Cities

"Imagine Bridget Jones hailed from Minnesota and her mother served red Jell-o salad rather than turkey curry. Imagine further that Bridget found love with a Persian Mark Darcy and moved in with him ... and his mother."
--Patrice Johnson, food and culture writer, Cultural Construct