The Pot of Jasmine

A Novel

De: Katayoun Zarrinkoub

Narrado por: Nusha Sepehri

At 17, Anahita leaves her war-torn country to take refuge in Canada, where she can feel, taste, touch, and smell freedom with every fiber of her being. Throughout many years of working hard trying to achieve her dream of becoming a prominent physicist, she struggles with depression, culminating in a manic episode which leads to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This story depicts the reality of living with a mental illness while achieving professional success, and it demonstrates how mental health issues can affect personal relationships.

After working as an engineer for 20 years, Ms. Zarrinkoub decided to pursue her more creative and artistic passions, including writing. Although her background was in hard sciences, humanities and the arts have always been her sources of inspiration, quenching her thirst for spiritual healing. Having immigrated to Canada as a teenager, and having faced many challenges along the way as she reached for her dreams, she knew she had something to say about mental health.

Front cover drawing by: Katayoun Zarrinkoub

©2019 Katayoun Zarrinkoub (P)2021 Nusha Sepehri

The story of love, immigration and mental illness

"The Pot of Jasmine" is a wonderful story! It is a story of love, immigration and the challenges of mental illness. The author has done a great job telling the story of an Iranian girl who immigrated to Canada as a teenager, falls in love, and feels the pain of rejection to the point of a nervous breakdown. The book is full of references to Iranian culture and history, while showing the challenges many Iranians (or any other middle eastern immigrant) face as they start a new life in a new land. I highly recommend this book.