Summary

In Chapter 4, “The Event (I Would Have Liked to Come Up With Something More Original)” it is 4:34 in the morning and Kimiâ cannot sleep. She is thinking about the event and knows that it is time for her to tell the story. The story begins in 1987, when Darius and Sara receive news that Iranian agents are here in France looking for a number of political dissidents, including Darius. Darius refuses the protection of the French intelligence, and both Darius and Sara feel invigorated by this news, not scared by it. Years later, while Kimiâ is in Berlin, she receives news that Shahpour Bakhtiar, an opponent of the Shah’s regime, has been assassinated. Other assassinations followed, and Kimiâ calls home more regularly, though she never has a chance to speak to her father.

In 1994, Leïla and Mina call with the news that...