Published in 2025
150 pages
Sepideh Gholian is an Iranian journalist and activist, currently in Evin Prison. She was arrested in November, 2018, during a strike by the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Complex and was severely tortured in detention. In 2023, a video went viral of her removing her hijab and calling for the downfall of Khamenei.
What is this book about?
16 recipes testifying to the sisterhood and solidarity forged in the most notorious prisons in Iran
‘A remarkable testimony to women’s bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions… Think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.’ 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 a tres leches cake. 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’ Club is a call to stand up for Woman, Life, Freedom by a woman still fighting for a free Iran.
