This insightful novel is the compelling and moving account of the struggles of an ambitious but innocent young woman caught in the practice of temporary marriage - a form of religiously and culturally sanctioned prostitution justified by a misinterpretation of the Quran. While
traveling throughout Iran, Author Nadia shahram, heard hundreds of accounts from women who, in order to survive, fell prey to these temporary marriages. she narrates their stories through a composite fictional character, Ateesh, a beautiful, modern woman with high hopes and ambitions living in Iran. This story chronicles her life from the abusive arranged marriage she escapes at the age of twelve to the ten contractual temporary marriages she engages in, as she struggles for love, education, and most importantly, independence.
Nadia Shahram lives in Amherst, New York where she teaches at theUniversity at Buffalo Law School. She has written and spoken extensively on the subject of the misinterpretation of the Quran in family and criminal laws as they affect Muslim women.
Currently she is working on a documentary which explores cultural practices that harm Muslim women, such as blood money and honor killings. Her law practice focuses on matrimonial law.
