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4.3 stars

The great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor and the daughter of ardent Marxists describes growing up in Tehran in a country plagued by political upheaval and vast contraditions between public and private life.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins comes a stunning novel about a Prohibition-era bad girl turned good: Saint Mazie, Queen of the Bowery"-- "Meet Mazie Phillips: big-hearted and bawdy, she's the truth-telling proprietress of The Venice, the famed New York City movie theater. It's the Jazz Age, with romance and booze aplenty--even when Prohibition kicks in--and Mazie never turns down a night on the town. But her high spirits...