Against the backdrop of 1979 post-revolution Iran, seven-year-old Mozhgan Mahmoodian struggles to understand the right and wrong in her world. At home, the kitchen wall is the only thing separating her father's two lives - one with her maman, and the other with his second wife. In her dogmatic school, disillusionment threatens to take away Mozhgan's claim to her one superpower: her brain.

Determined to create her own path, she decides the best way forward is by doing the opposite of what the adults around her do. But can a young girl reinvent her life with nothing but her own will and judgment?

The Ballet of Swallows is a coming of age memoir about how we define our own story and defy the one that's given to us. Navigating grief, depression, and familial trauma, Mozhgan Mahmoodian invites us into the intimate and harrowing world of her childhood.

Parmida Kakavand

Voice