Summary

In Chapter 4, Bahar watches Roza recite a poem about fireflies as she lays surrounded by them. Bahar notes that while Roza is fascinated with fireflies, Hushang is fascinated with seashells. Some nights when Hushang listens to the radio, he turns it down and instead holds a shell to his ear.

Bahar recalls the night that the radio announces that Ayatollah Khomeini has ended the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Roza thinks of Sohrab, remembering that when she was pregnant with him, she dreamt that he climbed a tree that grew taller the higher he clambered. When he reached the top, he disappeared into the bark.

Roza tells the story of how she came to give Sohrab his name. One day when she is reading the Wayfarer, a young man interrupts to tell her she dropped her wallet. He invites her to coffee and they talk...