This story takes place in Iran while political power was still in the hands of the Shah, therefore it takes place because the coup that put the current Islamic power in place (at least I think so, I have to admit my knowledge on this matter is quite limited).
The whole story is entirely told from the point of view of a little girl named Homa. Her family consists of her mother, her father, her grandmother, her younger brother, and her baby sister.
Being so little (she's about eight years old) she's very influenced by the adults in her life. He grandmother is very religious, but her parents are not religious at all, so she often has conflicting and changing views on how she wants to be.
She doesn't have a very happy family life (her father beats her mother, who isn't very affectionate with her children bar the youngest), so she often tries to escape to play in her neighbourhood with her friends. Homa has a family life filled with conflict.
And when she's out playing she needs to keep away from frankly pretty lecherous religious leaders who disapprove of little girls playing outside instead of helping their mothers, while also keeping an ear out for her parents in case they call her.
Her father is hardly ever home, he works all the time, and he is a communist activist, something that was illegal at the time (the Shah having very close relations with the USA). His mother (Homa's Grandmother) hates it because she believes that he should be more grateful to God for providing him for what he has.
The time during which this tale takes place is a time of great political upheaval, the Shah being contested from all directions apart from the States. There are the communists, the supporters of the Shah and the Islamist extremists.
Homa sees all this form the perspective of a small child, and so we see it the same way. We see but we don't necessarily understand why theses things are happening.
It's a very interesting story, it's quite bittersweet, because Homa doesn't seem to have a life that predisposes her towards happiness, but she strives for it anyway. It's quite uplifting really.
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