Pea Boy and Other Stories from Iran

Iran is a country of mountains striped with snow, dense forests where bears and lynxes still roam, deserts, bazaars . . . but above all it has stories — of fairies and demons, of a monstrous metal eagle called the okab, of romantic cockroaches and foolish weavers. During her travels in that large and diverse country, award-winning novelist Elizabeth Laird has gathered a wealth of stories, and here she retells, in her own inimitable style, some of its best. This book is an exciting insight into a people with an ancient and rich culture, making an important contribution to international understanding as well as being a rewarding book in itself. Beautifully illustrated by a gifted young artist who was brought up in Iran, Pea Boy and Other Stories from Iran is a feast for the eye and the ear.

Elizabeth Laird is the author of Red Sky in the Morning, The Garbage King, Crusade and Lost Riders. She has been shortlisted five times for the Carnegie Medal. She has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, and her son lived for four years in Iran. She met her husband while travelling in India and they lived together in Iraq, Lebanon and Austria. Her other books for Frances Lincoln are A Fistful of Pearls: Stories from Iraq, Pea Boy, and The Ogress and the Snake: Stories from Ethiopia. Laird divides her time between London and Edinburgh.

Shirin Adl was born in Harlow, England, in 1975. She received a first class BA honours in illustration from Loughborough University, and won the Hallmark M&S division Talented Designer Award. She currently lives in Oxford with her husband.