Mirage

Mirage is set in present-day Iran and centres on Roya and her identical twin sister, Tala. The two were inseparable as girls, but that closeness became harder to keep as they grew up. When both women become pregnant at the same time, their bond is renewed.

Then an accident causes Roya to miscarry and sends Tala into labor. Grief, jealousy, suspicion and guilt break apart the relationship they had only just rebuilt.

Nahid Rachlin looks closely at the inner lives of her characters, exploring sisterhood and identity, betrayal, envy, depression, loss and the lasting power of memory. The novel sets the social and political realities of contemporary Iran against a story about the nature of grief and redemption.