The daughter of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father, Parnaz fled persecution in Iran as a young girl and grew up an immigrant in Los Angeles. Nineteen years later, after the death of her father and a frightening diagnosis for herself, she decides rekindling her shattered spirit is more important to her than undergoing open-heart surgery. She returns to her homeland, this time as a stranger. Home Is a Stranger is a memoir about transcending boundaries and the meaning of hospitality—not only in the sense of welcoming others into our lives but also of remaining open to the world in the wake of loss.
 

“This is a beautifully written account of her quest to find her identity as she wrestles with a culture that is foreign and familiar, ancient and modern, and religious and secular.” –Carole, Goodreads 

“It reads like literary fiction, and at times, like poetry. A living, breathing poetry that lifts you to golden heights and plunges you into murky depths. Alternating between Los Angeles and Iran, Foroutan navigates life, death, and the space in between, in this exquisite sensory and intuitive journey.” –Natasha, Goodreads  

"The author does a fantastic job of evoking a particular time in a young woman's life, when the search for meaning and identity weights every event with potential, when the future is limitless because it is unknown, when the idea of 'becoming' is just as important as 'being.'" –Chaya, Goodreads 

“Foroutan’s sumptuous prose paints a vivid portrait of a rarely explored historical and cultural setting.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review for The Girl from the Garden) 

“Foroutan’s lyrical debut offers a mosaic of stories evoking life within a wealthy Jewish home in Kermanshah, Iran, in earlier times. . . . Deftly structured.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review for The Girl from the Garden) 

Parnaz Foroutan was born in Iran and spent her early childhood there. She is the author of The Girl from the Garden (Ecco 2015), for which she received the PEN USA Emerging Voices fellowship. Parnaz has also received grants from The Elizabeth George Foundation, the Barbara Deming Foundation, and a Hedgebrook Fellowship. She lives in Los Angeles.