Roseheart, by Catherine Dehdashti is a story about family, told through the sardonic voice of Valerie Kjos, a young Midwestern woman whose life is just barely coming together with her boyfriend when his Iranian mother comes for a visit—and stays for seven years.

The boyfriend, Naveed, is a straight-laced parking-ramp engineer and do-it-yourselfer. Valerie, a pot-smoking waitress and hopeful novelist, moves in with him despite their questionable fit. While opposites attract, the relationship is complicated by the arrival of Goli, the Persian name for “Rosie.”

That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet…but Shakespeare be damned, what would any independence-minded young woman do if it seemed like Goli’s “visit” from Iran was going to last forever? The house just isn’t big enough for the three of them.

Valerie will have to decide what’s more important to her—a family her own way, or her beloved Naveed with his live-in mother who wouldn’t approve of Valerie if she knew everything about her. But as she’s about to learn, Goli has secrets of her own.