'A beautiful meditation on the writer's relocation from bustling London to bucolic Florence. It reminded me why I cherish slow living in southern Europe' (Taiye Selasi, Guardian)

Chosen as Book of the Year by Random Jottings

Made redundant from her job, Kamin Mohammadi flees the bleak streets of London for a friend's sun-dappled apartment in Florence. There, among the cobbled streets, the bustling, vibrant markets and the majestic palazzos, she finds a new lease of life, and a new way to live it.

At once lyrical and practical, Bella Figura shows us how to make every aspect of life as beautiful as it can be. From how to choose the perfectly ripe tomato to how to walk down the street in style, Kamin Mohammadi explores the intricate nuances of Italian culture, and sets down a simple guide to a better, more elegant - and ultimately more satisfying - life.

_______________ 'A memoir to inspire' - Aminatta Forna 'I cannot recommend this book highly enough' - Nassim Assefi, author of Aria 'Fascinating insight on a topic much discussed but rarely understood from a human perspective. Recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the Middle East' - Image Magazine _______________ The story of three generations of Iranian women - Kamin, her mother and her grandmother - which portrays the history of twentieth century Iran Kamin Mohammadi was nine years old when her family fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution. Bewildered by the seismic changes in her homeland, she turned her back on the past and spent her teenage years trying to fit in with British attitudes to family, food and freedom. She was twenty-seven before she returned to Iran, drawn inexorably back by memories of her grandmother's house in Abadan, with its traditional inner courtyard, its noisy gatherings and its very walls steeped in history. The Cypress Tree is Kamin's account of her journey home, to rediscover her Iranian self and to discover for the first time the story of her family: a sprawling clan that sprang from humble roots to bloom during the affluent, Biba-clad 1960s, only to be shaken by the horrors of the Iran-Iraq War and the heartbreak of exile, and toughened by the struggle for democracy that continues today. This moving and passionate memoir is a love letter both to Kamin's extraordinary family and to Iran itself, an ancient country which has survived so much modern tumult but where joy and resilience will always triumph over despair. _______________ 'Here is a portrait of a country completely at odds with the media's portrayals ... It was a particular joy to read this memoir ... in the author's nostalgic depiction, one finds both a world that has passed away and one being born again' - Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must Go