Interview with author Marsha Mehran

Our August Canadian Living Book Club pick is Pomegranate Soup, the story of three Iranian sisters making a life for themselves in 1980s Ireland. (Click here to read an excerpt.) We spoke with the author, Marsha Mehran, about the story, her inspiration for writing and her love of Ireland.

Canadian Living: What was your inspiration for this novel?

Marsha Mehran: I drew inspiration from a few elements, actually. Although Pomegranate Soup is a work of fiction, magical realist at that, the story of three Iranian women who escape the Islamic Revolution and open a café -- well, that was definitely taken from my own life. Having fled the uprising, my parents settled in Buenos Aires, where they opened a café -- and where I first got the cooking bug.

Years later, I met and married an Irishman, who introduced me to his hometown of County Mayo, Ireland. During one of my stays there I met a Lebanese family who were struggling to assimilate in the then fairly homogenous culture of the West (of Ireland).

The loneliness of their experience, coupled with my family's own travels, resulted in Pomegranate Soup.

CL: Can you describe your writing process?

MM: A lot goes on in my head before I get to the computer. A lot of daydreaming and sifting through ideas, sparked by whatever has inspired me in the first place. When I do sit down to write, I do it in installments: three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening. I try and calm the doubts as I jot everything I can down, and that struggle to overcome fear is half of what writing is all about. Taking the leap, word after word.

CL: What is your favourite part of the book and why?

MM: I love the passages with Layla and Malachy, the first blushes of young love. But my favourite part is definitely where Tom Junior is transformed by The Cat's hospitality, changing into a truly conscious being.

CL: Are there any characters particularly close to your heart?

MM: They are all dear to me! So hard to choose... The Aminpour sisters, of course. Sweet. Mrs. Delmonico, Father Mahoney...ah. I better stop while I'm ahead.

CL: How would the story have been different had it taken place in a small town in any other Western country at the same time? Was it important to the story that it be set in Ireland?

MM: There is something absolutely mystical about the Irish countryside, and I knew that if there was one place on earth where my Aminpour sisters could find hope and a fresh start, it would be amongst the heather and clover fields of Eire. The landscape is integral to the renewal theme that runs throughout the book.

There is a particular permissiveness to the Irish culture as well, one that is not entirely apparent to the casual observer. Irish people have a tendency to initially back away from new people and encounters, but once they let their guard down, they will defend you to the end. Perfect challenge to the Babylon Cafe!

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