Bend It Like Beckham. My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Fools Rush In. Green Card. Spanglish. Delightful, heart-warming, cross-cultural romantic-comedy movies. And after each one, I'd turn to my husband and say, "There needs to be a movie like this about an Iranian woman." And he'd always say, "Get to it."

Well, I don't write movies. But I do write books. So that's the goal I set for myself while writing Veil of Roses: To write a funny, mainstream novel about an Iranian woman that shows the lighter side of the Persian culture. Yes, the Iranian people are going through a tough time right now, yearning for freedom while living in repression. There may be sadness in their souls, but they dream of happiness just like the rest of us.

What's an American author writing about an Iranian woman for, anyway?

Good question! My husband (of sixteen years) was born in Iran and became an expatriate at the age of ten, shortly before the government overthrow of 1979. His parents sent all five children out of the country. For a long time, they remained behind.

The momentousness of what his parents did to keep their children safe and give them a chance at happiness fully hit me only after we had children of our own. A child doesn't get to pick where he's born. What if our kids had been born in an unstable country, or a third-world country - would I have the courage and selflessness to send them away in order that they might have a chance for a better future, like my husband's parents did? Even today, I can't answer that question.

I am fascinated by people and the choices they make. It's what I keep coming back to in my writing. As you'll see over time, no matter what genre I write in, this seems to be what I explore - in the moment that counts, what will this person choose, and who will she become as a result?

Veil of Roses: A Novel of Heartache and Hope

In Veil of Roses, Tamila Soroush faced hard choices heroically. She thought of the children she did not yet have and asked, What sort of life do I want for them, and for myself? Hers is a story of heartache and hope, and I've never met an Iranian woman yet who didn't possess those same two qualities.