Female Life on Planet Earth

' Female Life on Planet Earth contemplates existence in ways funny, sad, wise and absurd. I loved it.' Sanam Mahloudji, author of The Persians

'Female Life on Planet Earth is intoxicating. Khadivi writes with bristling intelligence and real beauty.' Katie Kitamura, author of Audition

'A layered, profound story that made me laugh and cry, it feels both immediate and enduring, an instant favourite I can already imagine as a future classic.' Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal

'Female Life on Planet Earth is a spellbinding fever dream. A wholly engrossing deep dive into womanhood and loss. A must-read revelation of a book.' Jonathan Escoffery, author of If I Survive You

'A sumptuous journey... Full of history, gentle sorrow, bright and pulsing joy and family. A maze of emotion that connects strangers and family alike. This is one of those rare gems that sits in your chest long after you read the last word.' Onyi Nwabineli, author of Allow Me to Introduce Myself

'A laugh-out-loud, shocking, moving and deeply human story that illuminates the complexity of Iran’s history and its people. Full of surprises, wit and depth, Female Life on Planet Earth is an exquisitely beautiful and highly original novel that I won't be able to forget.' Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing

'Sharp, witty and deeply poignant, Female Life on Planet Earth captures the multiplicity and complexity of womanhood, motherhood, and the known and unknown things that shape who we are with remarkable insight. A stunning new novel from Laleh Khadivi.' Shani Akilah, author of For Such a Time As This

'Lyrical and startlingly funny.' The Bookseller

'As hilarious as it is profoundly moving, Laleh Khadivi’s multitudinous Female Life on Planet Earth is so very wise about love and its intimate attendant, sorrow. Powerful, startling, and marvelously vibrant.' R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

'Deeply moving, strange, funny... A beautiful, poetic work on the elemental bond between mothers and daughters, or the earth and her moon.' Kirkus, Starred Review 

'Of the gazillion books I'm sent, this was this month's hidden gem. I loved the writing and the effortless flow of the story. Superb.' PRIMA, Book of the Month

'An intense fever dream of vignettes and dialogue which considers inheritance, lineage and how we may never truly know those we love most, told as a journey through the cosmos of womanhood. We couldn’t put this mesmerising novel down.' Service 95

'I was immediately stunned by Khadivi’s meditative writing in this book…It’s a book as funny as it is reflective, a tale of grief, feminism, inheritance, and the pieces of our parents we’ll never really know.' Samia Silba, Mizna

'An indelible and unforgettable look at the complicated lives of women and what they must do to survive and thrive.' Booklist, starred review

'[Khadivi's] compassionate new novel follows a daughter as she examines her deceased mother’s secret life through encounters with other women... Through the shared stories of this compassionate, layered novel, Khadivi celebrates female solidarity and resilience.' Financial Times

'Though the dead can’t answer her questions, the living never seem to shut up. Heti is buoyed as she listens to the women who populate her world. Inside these surprising, uproarious stories of female life, Heti discovers the selves women hide away, selves defiantly in search of pleasure, autonomy, delight, and connection.' Daily Kos

'Personally, I inhaled California writer Laleh Khadivi’s forthcoming novel — written with deft, dazzling prose and packed with surprises — in one weekend. May I suggest you do the same?' Sophie Kercher, Los Angeles Times

'I was immediately stunned by Khadivi’s meditative writing in this book. It follows a woman whose mother has recently died and who learns of her mother’s secret, militant past life that upends her understanding of the woman she loved. It’s a book as funny as it is reflective, a tale of grief, feminism, inheritance, and the pieces of our parents we’ll never really know.' Samia Saliba, Mizna

 'Conjures up the irreducible variety of female experience in ways that question our right to assume we know anything about anyone at all.' Daily Mail

'This is a startling read, softly conciliatory by the close, and most importantly, fun.' Iran Wire

'The voices are distinct, the settings richly rendered in a distant, dreamlike prose, and the characters Heti encounters are well drawn and memorable.' Irish Times

'If mothers can conceal their lives from their daughters, Khadivi is right to point to how daughters can carry forward, resist or remake the legacies they inherit. As Heti comes to understand in this intriguing and unusual novel, perhaps the more important question may be not what we inherit, but what we choose to become.' Guardian, Book of the Day