This novel takes us to the past to the religious city of Mashhad and a large family in which a teenage boy is the narrator of the story. A teenage boy whose life is centered on his mother, Bibijan, a woman whose life is a captive of traditions, but who, contrary to the taboos of the time, tries with all her might to make her children live in a better world. A smooth, heartwarming and intimate story with excellent prose about coming of age of a boy in Iran during the Pahlavi era. From the days of living in Mashhad and then moving to Tehran. He has many stories about the details that go under the skin of a traditional family. His love for learning, literature and books sets him apart from his peers and gives him a different perspective. Far from sloganeering, he narrates the stories of women from different generations who run after their dreams in the midst of social and economic inequalities. Sometimes they die before reaching maturity and sometimes they leave a flame burning for the next generation.