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City of Lies - Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

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City of Lies - Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran

By: Ramita Navai
Narrated by: Sylvia Lisle
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About this listen

 A SPECTATOR AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

'Timely and beautifully written' Sunday Times

'Phenomenal. An extraordinary insight into a country barely known - and often feared - by the West' Vogue

Welcome to Tehran, a city where survival depends on a network of subterfuge. Here is a place where mullahs visit prostitutes, drug kingpins run crystal meth kitchens, surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is sold in the sprawling bazaars; a place where ordinary people are forced to lead extraordinary lives.

Based on extensive interviews, Tehran-born and award-winning reporter Ramita Navai chronicles the lives of eight men and women drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society. City of Lies reveals what it is to live, love and survive in one of the world's most repressive regimes.

'Utterly compelling' Daily Mail

'Gripping, a dark, delicious unveiling . . . Deeply researched yet as exciting as a novel' Simon Sebag Montefiore©2014 Ramita Navai Activists Cultural & Regional Middle East Politicians Politics & Activism

Critic reviews

Each chapter reads almost like a short story, covering the fascinating inner worlds of socialites, prostitutes, gangsters, junkies and anti-regime bloggers. Nose jobs, illicit sex, bribery and fear of the Gashte Ershad morality police loom large in this vivid captivating insight as Navai explores the little reported day-to-day existence of Tehranians
An intriguing book based on the premise that, to survive in a repressive regime where the government believes it has the right to interfere in even your most intimate matters, you have to lie... A talented writer... Navai has a reporter's eye for the telling detail... this is a timely and beautifully written insight into the lives of Tehranis - "masters at manipulating the truth", Navai says - just as their country seems to be opening up
Searing account of life in Tehran... Iranians share stories intimate and unforgettable enough to establish City of Lies as a remarkable and highly readable map of its human geography... Navai's prose is startling... She picks up snatches of songs, poems, billboard propaganda and is quick to find the knife and turn the blade on the hypocrisy of the city she knows so well
City of Lies explores the double lives led by Tehranis as they evade the watchful eye of the regime... a rich portrait of this vibrant, opaque and paranoid city... at the heart of City of Lies is some brilliant reporting. Persuading subjects to talk, even anonymously, is an achievement where betrayal is commonplace and there is always someone watching. Black humour runs through the book
Phenomenal... Pacy and informative. City of Lies is an extraordinary insight into a country barely known - an often feared - by the West
Telling the story of Tehran through a cast of characters... Navai illustrates how Iranians are far more bound by what they have in common: a strong awareness of class, an irrepressible drive for upward mobility, daily clashes with the forces of modernity and tradition, and a profound disillusionment with the opportunities society has on offer. Fast-paced and saturated with detail, each chapter describes a Tehrani whose life the treacherous, glittering city has disfigured in some way... what [Navai] has done is extraordinary. Despite the bleakness of life in their "city of lies", her Iranians continue to soldier on, hoping the future holds something better
It was while working as a newspaper correspondent in Tehran that Ramita Navai began interviewing a wide range of ordinary people about their lives, collecting stories which are (unsurprisingly) extraordinary. This gripping book is a mosaic of such glimpses into a very different world . . . the chapters read like utterly compelling short tales, catapulting us imaginatively into the hearts and minds of people we feel we know, even though their lives are so very 'other' . . . It is the author's considerable achievement to make you feel deeply moved by these lives
All stars
Most relevant
this was a superb account of lives beyond the regime though we could wonder about ordinary lives of others beyond those portrayed in the book. such a good read

brilliant and insightful

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Very apt and true description of Tehran and Iran as a whole. The country has been held back decades by the religious and traditional hang ups that have gripped the country from the top down, despite many forward thinking and intelligent individuals. I highly recommend this book..

BUT… awful, AWFUL narration! There are literally millions of Iranians in the diaspora. Why was a narrator not selected that can actually speak Persian??? Road names, expressions, names… totally butchered. Very substandard selection of the narrator

Great book, awful narration

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If you could sum up City of Lies in three words, what would they be?

The story seemed very interesting and the book well written, but listening to the recording was an ordeal.

Would you be willing to try another one of Sylvia Lisle’s performances?

NO WAY!!! Such monotonous style, I could not tell when the story moved from one scene to another. Worst reading style ever.

Any additional comments?

I am thinking of buying the book and reading it, as the reader has literally ruined it for me.

unbearable to listen to this reader

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As a British-Iranian brought up in the UK, this book was an outstanding account of the true face of Tehran and Tehrani’s. A complicated multi-layered world that represents the rest of Iran. I’ve always struggled to put this multifaceted society into words, but this book has done a fantastic job of that. A great read, would defo recommend to anyone.

Honest, Transparent, Informative, Just great

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This story reveals a very different perspective on Iranian people, culture and daily life than what is seen in the mainstream press. The many tales are intimate with complex characters. The narrator reads in a manner that is not the most enjoyable, sounding like AI. But the story is worth it.

Beautiful, hard truths

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