And the Mountains Echoed

This chapter comes in the form of a letter addressed to Mr. Markos from Nabi. He uses Nila Wahdati as the bookend to his story. It essentially becomes a confession as to what led up to Pari’s “sale,”, but it also outlines the divorce of Nila and Suleiman Wahdati and Nabi’s the years of service Nabi remained with Suleiman.

His first confession is of leaving his sisters in Shadbagh because he “pictured [his] youth ebbing away” and left to “help provide for [his] sisters […] but also to escape” (75).

NabiHe cooked for Mr. Wahdati and was his chauffeur. He would drive him around the city, often for hours often hours at a time and not do a lot. Nabi tells of a time he drove Suleiman to a house more elaborate and larger than his, and a beautiful woman stepped outside with him. Nabi watched from the car, entranced by this beautiful woman. When Suleiman comes back to the car, he announces to Nabi that he is getting married.

Nabi witnesses the lurid gossip that surrounds the woman, and though he chastises the gossipmongers for having no respect for Mr. Wahdati, he is still intrigued by all of the licentious details about the soon- to- be Mrs.