Ahmad Mahmoud was born in Ahvaz in 1931 and, like his protagonist, spent time in prison for political agitation in the 1950s. He wrote several short story collections and novels before his death in 2002.Nastaran Kherad, born in Abadan, a city in southern Iran, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Set in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan in the early 1950s, The Neighbours... is a species of Bildungsroman. The narrator, a teenage working-class boy, seems to echo Mahmoud (1931-2002) in terms of social and economic background and educational achievements. The narrated time covers three to four years during which the Iranian oil industry, formerly run by the British, was nationalized, and the political events connected with this event contribute greatly to the social and emotional maturing of the narrator[...] Summing Up: Recommended" - Choice

Ahmad Mahmoud was born in Ahvaz in 1931 and, like his protagonist, spent time in prison for political agitation in the 1950s. He wrote several short story collections and novels before his death in 2002.Nastaran Kherad, born in Abadan, a city in southern Iran, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Set in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan in the early 1950s, The Neighbours... is a species of Bildungsroman. The narrator, a teenage working-class boy, seems to echo Mahmoud (1931-2002) in terms of social and economic background and educational achievements. The narrated time covers three to four years during which the Iranian oil industry, formerly run by the British, was nationalized, and the political events connected with this event contribute greatly to the social and emotional maturing of the narrator[...] Summing Up: Recommended" - Choice

Ahmad Mahmoud was born in Ahvaz in 1931 and, like his protagonist, spent time in prison for political agitation in the 1950s. He wrote several short story collections and novels before his death in 2002.Nastaran Kherad, born in Abadan, a city in southern Iran, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Set in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan in the early 1950s, The Neighbours... is a species of Bildungsroman. The narrator, a teenage working-class boy, seems to echo Mahmoud (1931-2002) in terms of social and economic background and educational achievements. The narrated time covers three to four years during which the Iranian oil industry, formerly run by the British, was nationalized, and the political events connected with this event contribute greatly to the social and emotional maturing of the narrator[...] Summing Up: Recommended" - Choice