The Rose Hotel ― A Memoir of Secrets, Loss, and Love from Iran to America

"In this powerful memoir, Iran-born author Rahimeh Andalibian tells the story of her family: their struggle to survive the 1979 revolution, their move to California, and their attempts to acculturate in the face of teenage rebellion, murder, addiction, and new traditions. A poignant but uplifting tale of family secrets, trauma, and renewal, this runaway self-published success will capture the hearts of those who love Reading Lolita in Tehran and House of Sand and Fog. A country in chaos, a clash of civilizations, and a family torn asunder. In this searing memoir The Rose Hotel, Rahimeh Andalibian struggles to make sense of two brutal crimes: a rape, solved by her father, and a murder, of which her beloved oldest brother stands accused. She takes us firstinto her family's tranquil, jasmine-scented days of prosperity in their luxury hotel in Mashhad, Iran. Their life is ruptured by the 1979 revolution as they flee: first to the safety of a mansion in Tehran, next to a squalid one-room flat in London, and finally to California, where they suffer a different kind of revolution. Struggling to adjust to a new host culture, they soon discover that although they escaped Iran, they are not free from their own lies and hidden truths. As the family comes to grips with their new home, the strength of their bonds are tested by love, loyalty, compassion, hate, pain, loss--and the will to survive. Heartbreaking and intimately told, The Rose Hotel is a universal story of healing, rebirth after tragedy, and hard-won redemption"--

RAHIMEH ANDALIBIAN was born in Tehran and moved with her family to California in 1986, at the onset of the Iranian revolution. Raised and schooled in LA, she is a clinical psychologist specializing in intergenerational family therapy. A dynamic speaker and a savvy, promotion-driven author, she speaks frequently at conferences and has promoted the book on Martha Stewart Radio and BlogHer.