Journey in the Shadows

The book “Journey in the Shadows” is a work that intertwines myth and reality. In this novel, the author narrates a multilayered story, where the narrator, the narrative, and the narrative of the narrator coexist in a complex, nested world. This work, which reached the final stage of the Fourth National Epic Story Award, depicts the interweaving of myth and war, placing Rostam on a path of seven mystical trials.

In the main section, Rostam undergoes seven distinct trials to bring back Sohrab, seven mystical stages that lead him toward self-knowledge and knowledge of God. He passes through the burning desert and the red sun, reaches a sea of dryness, battles a leopard in a glass forest, and confronts his own lies in a dark world. Along the way, he is repeatedly reborn among mirrors of denial until he finally moves toward the light and returns. The second narrative, however, unfolds amid a contemporary war: an old man attempts, through prayer and supplication, to exchange his own life with that of his wounded son. The convergence of these two narratives ultimately brings Rostam and the old man together at a single point, where both transform from hero to champion.