Badri is a novel by Behrooz Badakhshan published by Asemana Books on December 23, 2025.
ISBN: 9781997503262
Language: Persian
“Badri” is the story of a man in his early thirties who makes his living through romantic relationships with wealthy women—women who, for various reasons, enjoy spending time with a young man, and all the better if he is unemployed and inclined toward romance. In the opening pages, the narrator meets Badri, and as their new relationship begins to form, he realizes that the romantic lies he invents to entertain and exploit women no longer please him. This time, with Badri, he wants to try something else—a lie that could change the course of his life.
The entire novel follows the narrator’s search for this ‘something else,’ and it is through the reader’s encounter with this quest that the subtleties of the narrator’s character, Badri herself, and the complexities of their relationship come to light.
In his portrayal of the city where he wanders with his friends and with Badri—Isfahan, the Zayandeh Rood, and the Vahid neighborhood, also known as “Sahra-Rowghan”—Behrooz Badakhshan brings to life the overlooked inhabitants of this old district. He gives voice to people rarely heard, interpreting them through the eyes of someone who is one of them and has grown up in their midst. Badri is the author’s excavation of his relationships with others, with himself, and with the neighborhood in which he was raised—now being swallowed by modern Isfahan.
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