A bold, cinematic novel steeped in ancient Persian and Greek myths, exploring queerness, desire, and violence in modern day Tehran, Medusa of the Roses announces Navid Sinaki as a daring and unforgettable literary voice. Bursting with sex, vengeance, and betrayal, it follows Anjir, a morbid romantic and petty thief, whose boyfriend disappears just as they’re planning to leave their hometown for good.

Anjir and Zal are childhood best friends turned adults in love. The only problem is they live in Iran, where being openly gay is criminalized, and the government’s apparent acceptance of trans people requires them to surgically transition and pass as cis straight people. When Zal vanishes after narrowly surviving a brutal attack, Anjir becomes hell-bent on carrying out their longstanding plan for the future: Anjir, who’s always identified with the mythical gender-changing Tiresias, will become a woman, and they’ll move to a new town for a fresh start as husband and wife. Stalking and stealing his way through the streets, clubs, and museum halls of Tehran in pursuit of Zal, Anjir encounters his troubled mother, addict brother, and the dynamic Leyli, who is undergoing a transition of her own.

And when he realizes that someone is tailing him too, the fastest route to freedom will push Anjir’s morals and gender identity to new places.

Brimming with poetic vulnerability, subversive bite, and noirish grit, Medusa of the Roses is a page-turning wallop of a story from a stunning new talent.