Marsha Mehran and the Meaning of Home

"Marsha Mehran, an Iranian-born author who wrote a hugely successful debut novel centered on Iranian expatriates in Ireland, was found dead on Wednesday at her home in the village of Lecanvey in County Mayo, on Ireland’s northwest coast. She was 36.

The police said that toxicology tests would be performed but that there were no signs of foul play.

Ms. Mehran said her own experiences had inspired her first novel, “Pomegranate Soup,” the story of three sisters who escape Iran during the revolution of 1979 and open a Persian cafe in a small town in the west of Ireland."

"Marsha Mehran: “I wanted to write a happy story, something uplifting and a joy to read,” she said. “Nothing woven, textual, literary. Just something that would make me happy. Food makes me happy. When you cook for someone, you are extending your heart to them; that’s how Persians feel. You are trusting them with what you make.”
One critic described Pomegranate Soup as “an infectious novel of magical realism, a delectable journey into the heart of Persian cooking and Irish living.”
Mr Collins says: “Marsha spent her life looking for a home. She had no country;no real home for so many years.