Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026

The internationally acclaimed masterpiece from one of Iran's most influential writers - a powerful and essential tale of female freedom

'The best feminist novel I know. It's thrilling, beautiful and hilarious' Johanne Lykke Holm
'A courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer' Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis

Women Without Men traces the interwoven destinies of five women – including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher – as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran.

Drawing on elements of Islamic mysticism and recent Iranian history, this unforgettable novel depicts women escaping the narrow confines of family and society, and imagines their future living in a world without men.

Translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh

"Parsipur's layered tales, glittering in a fresh translation, continue to beckon you into a world that is simultaneously scoured by reality, and touched with fable and myth" - 2026 International Booker Prize Judges

"Gracefully brutal... Parsipur writes with the surface simplicity of a tale-teller. But she drops in prosaic, stinging touches of realism - of gossip, envy, suppressed thoughts and misunderstandings" - New York Review of Books

"Using the techniques of both the fabulist and the polemicist, Parsipur continues her protest against traditional Persian gender relations in this charming, powerful novel" - Publishers Weekly