A novel about women in Iran  In the Heart of the Cat

In her debut novel, Jina Khayyer explores what it means to live as a woman in Iran. Starting from the protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, she unfolds a multi-layered portrait of a country beyond the headlines – full of poetry, resistance and hidden spaces of freedom.

What does it mean to be a woman in Iran? This is the central question of Im Herzen der Katze (In the Heart of the Cat), the debut novel by author, poet and artist Jina Khayyer, through which we as readers discover an Iran far removed from the usual war-driven news coverage.

In September 2022, the Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Soon after, a wave of protests spread across the world. This is where the novel begins.

“Jina” is also the name of the protagonist. She shares it with the young, courageous woman whose face became a symbol of rebellion. The Jina in the novel, however, has been living in Europe for many years and lies awake at night on her bed in southern France. She cannot tear her eyes away from her Instagram feed. She sees the furious crowds on the streets of Tehran and feels a deep sense of connection with the protesters who are fighting for freedom and risking their lives. The familiar sound of their chants in Farsi makes Jina think recall her life in Iran.

Beauty and brutality

The author takes us along on this journey of memory and leads us into the eponymous “heart of the cat” – so called because the outline of the country resembles a cat. Almost incidentally, we learn about Iran’s history as we read, and find out more about the national language, Farsi, which is steeped in poetry. There are, for example, more than twenty ways of saying thank you: “May your hands not ache” and “Your eyes are bright” – two expressions whose beauty I simply cannot forget.

The author depicts the country and its people so vividly that one seems to taste the bittersweet tang of Iranian lemon juice on one’s tongue, breathe in the dry desert air and smell the aromatic kebabs sold at street stalls everywhere. And before our eyes appears the many-hued landscape. Jina lists them all: “Blood, wine, pomegranate, cherry, rose, ruby, vermilion, terracotta, rust, orange, saffron, and again and again that dazzling white; a world of fire, sand and salt.” Yet this beauty is always set against the brutality of the regime in power. Jina senses this the moment she steps out into the street. Women move through public space with the knowledge that any behaviour we Europeans might consider entirely self-evident could be punished with beatings, arrest or even the death penalty.

Political and poetic

Jina’s aunt, Amme Esmat, lived through the monarchy under the Shah and the country’s transformation into an Islamic Republic. “The headscarf was torn off me by the police with the same violence with which it is forced upon us today – that’s how arbitrary things are here,” she tells Jina. Her account subtly hints that Amme Esmat loves women – in a country where there is not even a word for it. “‘Delémoon jekis, our hearts are one, that’s what we girls say, to say we are gay,’” Jina later learns from her tour guide Iman, for whom Jina develops tender feelings that she can express only through prolonged glances. Iman understands and looks back. Their hearts, too, are one.

Jina is initiated into the different ways people find to live their freedom in silence. There are bookshops with hidden upper floors, secret vineyards, exuberance, music and dancing – all behind closed doors… Outside, in the noisy public sphere, Jina’s niece Nika, like many others, throws herself into political activism after the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini. She protests and risks everything for freedom in her beloved country, whose government offers her nothing but hatred and contempt.

Precisely because it is currently impossible to travel to the country, Im Herzen der Katze is a special gift. This novel opens eyes and hearts to the people who live there, to their almost incomprehensible courage – especially that of women. This makes it an incredibly important book for understanding the present and for honouring these brave women. Political and poetic at the same time.

May 2026