Tracy begins work in an Iranian restaurant, Taste of Persia, run by the squat middle aged Sam and his exotic French wife Yvette. It doesn't take long for Tracy to discover, waiting at home for Sam, is his other wife Firouzeh and her four children. A legacy from his younger brother, killed by a car bomb, Sam is duty bound to look after his own, even if it means keeping two wives.

Tracy at last has her furtive imagination fed vicariously through the lives of her new employers. Whilst babysitting for the family Tracy roams the house for clues to their sleeping arrangements. What she finds is a rich mystical world alien to her own.

As the weeks pass, Tracy and Sam share confidences during their smoke breaks in the back lane to the restaurant. Encouraged by his other wives, Sam is drawn by Tracy's young beauty and fresh views, while she is attracted to Sam's simple but genuine philosophy of his life as an immigrant in Britain; a philosophy that applauds a country that uses “the great British tut” in place of guns and machetes.

When Sam confides in Tracy that his marital arrangements are purely honourable towards two women in need, she finds herself even more fascinated by him and soon the unlikely pair become romantically attached.

To the horror of Tracy's parents, and the delight of Sam's wives, Tracy agrees to be his third wife. She is an intelligent young woman and throws herself into her new life and culture by trying to learn and understand the Koran. But tongues start to wag at the unconventional arrangements and Social Services, tipped off by an anonymous caller, investigate the marriages.

At this point the story moves from being a simple love story with culture clash to something more sinister. It explores the lengths people of all cultures will pursue to protect their families and their beliefs, and how petty jealousies and ignorance can destroy families and stretch love and loyalty to the limit.

When Social Services implement drastic measures and take Firouzeh's children into care, Sam's two other wives Yvette and Tracy are forced to move out of the marital home. With a court case pending it seems that the future is hopeless for the family. It is only when Sam is beaten to a pulp by Tracy's ex-boyfriend that we discover the truth about the tip-off to Social Services and Tracy is given the means to act on behalf of all parties to resolve the situation.

Although the story is written from the changing point of view of many of its main characters I found this style easy to read and not as confusing as it could have been. The straightforward language allows the reader to enter into the lives of Tracy and Sam and want to stay with them. At times I found the simple dialogue too true to actual speech and full of clichés. This slows the pace of the story. The author also has a tendency to labour a point which dilutes the impact of the original comment. There were times when my red pen itched to write 'do you need' in the margins.

The main characters of Tracy and Sam work well together, but I found a number of the lesser characters two dimensional, particularly the two wives. The relationships between Tracy's parents and between Tracy and her father are strong and believable but this exposes a lack of passion elsewhere in the novel.

A number of the dramatic scenes where one would expect to feel emotion are flat, in particular, the scenes involving the children's abduction in the middle of the night and the forced separation of the heartbroken Tracy and Sam. These episodes are told with little passion and leave me feeling indifferent to the situations and the characters. The worst example of this was when Yvette decides to return to her native France. Her departure is recounted in a distant style almost as if the author is bored with her and wants her out of the way to move the plot along.

Despite these failings in the novel I enjoyed the read and marvelled at the sympathetic knowledge the author includes about the Iranian people. This brings to life the predicament of the family but also gifts the reader with an insight into the Persian culture, its romantic rituals and its poetry.

Moira McPartlin currently lives in Ross-shire, but travels extensively with work. She started writing three years ago to relieve the boredom of airport lounges. She enjoys writing short stories and her passion for mountaineering and travel provides plenty of material for non-fiction articles. Moira has yet to have any work published, but lives in hope. She is currently working on her first novel.

© 2007 Laura Hird All rights reserved.