The Saffron Kitchen (2006)

In the first sentence of The Saffron Kitchen, Yasmin Crowther's beautiful debut, Sara, an English-born woman of Iranian descent, loses her unborn child. Her cousin delivers the fatal kick to the groin, but Sara blames her mom, Maryam, who quickly leaves England for her childhood home in Iran. The rest of the novel unravels why this mother and daughter are at odds. ''There are many types of freedom and each has its price.... For each freedom we choose, we must give up another,'' says Maryam, comparing her U.K. life to repressive but rich Iran. Though the end veers into sappiness, Kitchen is a heartfelt story about unbreakable family bonds.