Women Without Men

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026

The internationally acclaimed masterpiece from one of Iran's most influential writers - a powerful and essential tale of female freedom

'The best feminist novel I know. It's thrilling, beautiful and hilarious' Johanne Lykke Holm
'A courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer' Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis

Women Without Men traces the interwoven destinies of five women - including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher - as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran.

Drawing on elements of Islamic mysticism and recent Iranian history, this unforgettable novel depicts women escaping the narrow confines of family and society, and imagines their future living in a world without men.

Translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh

Review: Parsipur's layered tales, glittering in a fresh translation, continue to beckon you into a world that is simultaneously scoured by reality, and touched with fable and myth * 2026 International Booker Prize Judges *
Candid, enlightening and entertaining ... There's a sense of glee, where suffering goes out the other side and comes back as exuberance -- John Self * The Times *
Whenever she goes through an experience that might be leveraged for epiphany, catharsis or a clear moral lesson, Parsipur always goes for something more unexpected. It's this that makes Women Without Men, for all its outlandish moments, profoundly human -- Chris Power * Observer *
Powerful ... Parsipur blends magical realism with the heightened drama of a fairy tale, inverting familiar tropes ... As the layers of misogyny are peeled back, the work's full force emerges -- Lucy Popescu * Financial Times *
Parsipur is one of Iran's most celebrated living writers, and one of our boldest, most original feminists -- Dina Nayeri * Guardian *
Confronting, surreal and laced with Iranian mythology, Women Without Men sweeps you away in just over 100 pages. It is a defiant exploration of sexuality and identity through the interwoven lives of five women as they break free ... and imagine a world beyond male control * Service95 *
Gracefully brutal... Parsipur writes with the surface simplicity of a tale-teller. But she drops in prosaic, stinging touches of realism - of gossip, envy, suppressed thoughts and misunderstandings * New York Review of Books *
Using the techniques of both the fabulist and the polemicist, Parsipur continues her protest against traditional Persian gender relations in this charming, powerful novel * Publishers Weekly *
The feminist book that Iran's regime has failed to silence since the 80s ... The UK publication marks a hard-won return for a work that has outlasted bans, by a writer who has survived incarceration and forced displacement -- Hind Elhinnawy * The Conversation *
Parsipur is a courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer -- Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis
Women Without Men is the best feminist novel I know. It's thrilling, beautiful and hilarious, filled with weird women in transformation and the violent little men desperately trying to control them. I am convinced this novel is in fact a magic trick. Reading it feels like being invited to the rebellious unveiling of an age-old secret. It is both deeply mysterious and clear as water, filled to the brim with undeniable truth -- Johanne Lykke Holm