'Timely and beautifully written' Sunday Times

'Phenomenal. An extraordinary insight into a country barely known - an often feared - by the West' Vogue

'Utterly compelling' Daily Mail

'Gripping, a dark, delicious unveiling . . . Deeply researched yet as exciting as a novel' Simon Sebag Montefiore

Welcome to Tehran, a city where survival depends on a network of subterfuge. Here is a place where mullahs visit prostitutes, drug kingpins run crystal meth kitchens, surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is sold in the sprawling bazaars; a place where ordinary people are forced to lead extraordinary lives.

Based on extensive interviews, CITY OF LIES chronicles the lives of eight men and women drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society and reveals what it is to live, love and survive in one of the world's most repressive regimes.

Ramita Navai is a British-Iranian journalist and writer. For Channel 4's foreign affairs series, UNREPORTED WORLD she has reported from over twenty different countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, El Salvador and Zimbabwe. She was awarded an EMMY for her undercover report from Syria. She has also worked as a journalist for the United Nations in Pakistan, northern Iraq and Iran. While working as the Tehran correspondent for THE TIMES from 2003 to 2006, Ramita Navai began interviewing ordinary people about their lives, and she continued to collect these stories long after most foreign media had been banned from Iran. CITY OF LIES is her first book and won the ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE JERWOOD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION and the DEBUT POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD.

@ramitanavai