Once upon a time in Persia

An introspective and entrancing fairytale, this spectacular debut from Iranian-Italian author Sahar Doustar asks us to consider our place in the grand beauty of the wider world. Once upon a time in Persia, there lived a girl who learned to recognise her reflection, not in a mirror, but in the shape of the stars and the earth around her.

On her wedding day, she sees herself in a mirror for the first time and does not recognise herself.

Heartbroken, she runs away, mistakenly believing another bride has taken her place.

Her love desperately follows her, trying to persuade her that the reflection she saw was in fact herself.

Protesting, the woman must explain to her love that her shape cannot be contained so neatly, for she is the shape of water in the lake, of the sun when it rises and sets, and the moon when full and at crescent.

Once Upon a Time in Persia promises to entrance readers with its painstakingly detailed illustrations inspired by the rich vivacity of Persian illuminated manuscripts, and prompts them to celebrate their place in the grand beauty of the wider world.