The King

An extraordinary novel about the making of modern Iran - Kader Abdolah's The King , already a bestseller in Europe, is now published in English for the first time

The King is utterly fabulous in both senses of the word: a sly, witty, knowing fable, full of charm and humour. Deceptively simple in its storytelling, it reads like one of Angela Carter's fairy tales transposed into the nineteenth-century Qajar Persian court. Kader Abdolah is a masterful and completely addictive storyteller

A strong and colourful story illuminating the complex forces that have shaped contemporary Iran

Glorious

Set in the last half of the 19th century, The King is a biography of brutality and ambition; all of its characters strive to shape their own lives as well as the destiny of their evolving nation

Told in a simple yet gripping style based on the great epic history of early Persia, the 'Shahnameh' written by Firdawsi about a thousand years ago. It proves a very effective model for this dramatic tale of a later ruler and his heroic, if often brutal, battles. As in the 'Shahnameh', lyrical passages celebrating Persia break up the harsh history

Abdolah brings a crucial moment in 19th-century Persian history to vivid life

The King probes questions of power and authority through wry fable - Salman Rushdie's Shame meets Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall . . . the story is rich with subtle touches . . . in the grand tradition of Persian literary satire, the writing is playful, subversive, and compassionate . . . resplendent

Excellent . . . accessible and deceptively light

A modern epic

A very detailed and well-researched historical account

Kader Abdolah (a pen name created in memoriam to friends who died under persecution by the current Iranian regime) was born in Iran in 1954. While a student of physics in Tehran, he joined a secret leftist party that fought against the dictatorship of the shah and the subsequent dictatorship of the ayatollahs. Abdolah wrote for an illegal journal and clandestinely published two books in Iran. In 1988, he arrived in the Netherlands as a political refugee. Kader Abdolah is the author of several books, including the novels My Father's Notebook, The House of the Mosque and most recently The King which has been longlisted for the 2016 International DUBLIN Literary Award. He has received several awards, including the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres decoration in 2008.

Nancy Forest-Flier is an American-born translator who has made her home in the Netherlands with her husband, the writer Jim Forest.