EMBROIDERIES

Embroideries gathers together many of the women in Marjane Satrapi's life- her beloved grandmother, her mother, an eccentric aunt, their friendsand neighbours - for an afternoon of tea-drinking and talking. And as isonly to be expected when a group of women reunite around cups of tea, thesubjects turn to love, sex and the vagaries of men - in this case, Iranianmen. As the afternoon progresses, these colourful women share their secretsabout, among other things: how to fake your virginity, how to escape thehusband your family has chosen for you, how to enjoy the miracles ofplastic surgery and how to take advantage of being someone's mistress. Byturns revealing and hilarious, these are stories about the lengths towhich some women will go to find a man, to keep a man, or just to keep upappearances. We also witness tearful confessions and heavy-hearted talesof regret and betrayal, of unhappy marriages and of young women forced orchoosing to marry for all the wrong reasons. And though love is mostly toblame, there's no missing the message that much of their suffering is dueto a culture that prizes men above women and makes a woman's worthdependent on her virginity. Full of surprises, this introduction to theprivate lives of some very interesting ordinary women also demonstratesbrilliantly how much women the world over have in common.