New York Times:

Marsha Mehran, an Iranian-born author who wrote a hugely successful debut novel centered on Iranian expatriates in Ireland, was found dead on Wednesday at her home in the village of Lecanvey in County Mayo, on Ireland’s northwest coast. She was 36.

The police said that toxicology tests would be performed but that there were no signs of foul play.

Ms. Mehran said her own experiences had inspired her first novel, “Pomegranate Soup,” the story of three sisters who escape Iran during the revolution of 1979 and open a Persian cafe in a small town in the west of Ireland...

“Pomegranate Soup” became known in the book world as “The Iranian ‘Chocolat,’ ” a reference to Joanne Harris’s 1999 novel and its movie adaptation about a young single mother who arrives in a French village and sets up a chocolate shop.

The book, published by Random House, was an international hit, translated into more than a dozen languages and published in more than 20 countries...

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