"And the law looked darkly on Leyla, because her sexual availability was destructive to family life. Amini recalls the judge explaining that if society were an apple Leyla would be a worm."

This woman is a victim of injustice, and a heroine.

Not far from Amini’s apartment building was a recreational sight of singular frivolity: beach-volleyball courts. As though the world were such a place, and Amini such a person as to live in it. ♦