The Evin Prison Bakers' Club: Surviving Iran's Most Notorious Prisons in 16 Recipes [Paperback]

16 recipes testifying to the sisterhood and solidarity forged in the most notorious prisons in Iran

THE SUNDAY TIMESBESTSELLER

'A remarkable testimony to women’s bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions… Think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.'The Sunday Times,Book of the Week

'A fighting woman cannot be imprisoned because her voice is louder than prison walls. This book is proof.'Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner

How do you cheer up a woman who has spent hours cleaning prison toilets with a broken mop? The secret is in atres lechescake. In Iran’s prisons, women endure horrors: they are beaten, interrogated, and humiliated in a thousand ways. Even a whisper to a fellow inmate can be punished. Yet – in spite of anything and everything – they resist: they bake. They console each other, cry together, dance together.

Sepideh Gholian, in prison since 2018, bakes scones, pumpkin pies and madeleines, alongside traditional Iranian sweets.The Evin Prison Bakers’ Clubis a call to stand up for Woman, Life, Freedom by a woman still fighting for a free Iran.Sepideh Gholianis an Iranian journalist and activist, currently in Evin Prison. She was arrested on 18 November 2018 during a strike by the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Complex, and was severely tortured in detention. In 2023, a video of her removing her hijab and calling for the downfall of Khamenei went viral.'A remarkable testimony to women’s bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions… Think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.'SUNDAY TIMESBOOK OF THE WEEK'The book is proof of Gholian’s triumphant resistance against a regime that wants her silenced, and a powerful message of hope for the future.'Observer'Sepideh Gholian’s account of life on the women’s wards in Bush