Set during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the ensuing Iran-Iraq War of 1980–88, the novel Martyrdom Street chronicles the lives of three Iranian women, Fatemeh, Nasrin, and Yasaman. These ordinary women tell their intimate stories of love, loss, betrayal, and hope in intertwining narratives that unfurl simultaneously in the United States and Iran. Kashani-Sabet's characters endure both the familiar struggles of family relationships and the disorienting effects of searing political upheavals. A mother and daughter come to terms with the burdens of separation imposed by politics and exile. A young woman grapples with the haunting memories of an assassination. The poignant confessions of these skillfully wrought characters give voice to the travails of two generations of Iranians and Iranian Americans.