The Lip Reader

The Lip Reader is the story of Zhila Shirazi, a girl growing up in Tehran, Iran who encounters prejudice against everything she is—deaf and Jewish. Fearful of social reprisals, her parents are quiet about their daughter’s deafness, believing hearing aids would telegraph her problem. Yet Zhila refuses to be defined by limitations or prejudice. She has the innate intelligence, strength, will power and a huge heart, which guides her through life.

Zhila’s struggle provides motivation for her siblings. When brother Ziggy gets a failure notification from school, Zhila encourages him to change his behavior. Sisters Zahra and Zanna see the successes of their sister and feel empowered.

Since Maamaan thinks Zhila will never attract a husband, Zhila proves her mother wrong by learning how to sew beautiful clothes. At an end-of-school party she meets Fayaad, who seems to like her, but is frightened away by an anti-Semitic attack. At Shiraz University, Zhila attends lectures close to her professors for better lip reading. She is mortified when students mock her for “loving” a professor based on her habit of staring. She ignores them and graduates grabbing a prestigious job in Tehran as a heavy metal specialist.

During a family trip to Europe, Ziggy feels left out when the people around him speak a foreign language. Frustrated, he complains to his sister who says, “Welcome to my world.” Zhila’s deafness makes her feel like a constant outsider, but she perseveres toward her dreams and goals and never gives up.

With the Islamic Revolution in full swing, the Revolutionary Guard arrests Papa for spying for Israel. Zhila manages to get her father out of prison, but torture has permanently blinded him. Because of this, the family decides to immigrate to America.

Once in California, Zhila goes back to school, learns English and American Sign Language, and becomes a nursing assistant at the Jewish Home for the Aged.

Zhila eventually meets Mickey, a deaf writer. Communicating in ASL, the couple travels to New York, Hawaii, and around California where their love grows.

In 2010 Zhila has severe stomach pains and learns she has stage four-colon cancer. Mickey becomes her caregiver, making sure she gets her chemotherapy treatments. Five years later, when the therapy stops working, the couple spends their last summer together.

In the final chapter, Mickey recounts the life of Zhila Shirazi, showing a caring nature that touched the lives of everyone lucky enough to have known her.