{"product_id":"9780735280892","title":"The Small Ones","description":"\u003cb\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Small Ones\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterfully written, harrowing novel about the child martyrs used as front-line shields in the Iran-Iraq War—'us warrior children, us children of God,’ as our narrator tells us. A wondrous literary novel about a dark moment in history.”\u003cbr\u003e—John Irving\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Small Ones\u003c\/i\u003e, Nazanine Hozar crafts a gripping fable about children who are caught up in a military insurgence along the Iran–Iraq border in the early 1980s (based on the real-life conflict of that time) and forced to become soldiers and martyrs. This ragtag group of boys and one small girl create a little family of their own even as they yearn to return to their lost homes and safety.\u003cbr\u003e    \u003ci\u003eThe Small Ones\u003c\/i\u003e is at heart about fathers and sons—unreliable father figures in the repressive Iran of Hozar’s telling whose personal quests for power lead to pain and bloodshed. It is also a tale about what it takes to not only survive but end such wars. The story centres on narrator Amir and his best friend Clay, who appears to be both a human boy and a creature of myth. With them, we embark on a full-circle journey, following the ancient river Karun along the borderland until freedom is in reach, but at a terrible cost.\u003cbr\u003e    An extraordinary novel that takes us unflinchingly into a storm of deadly conflict through the eyes of its youngest participants, \u003ci\u003eThe Small Ones\u003c\/i\u003e is a searing look at cycles of coercion, bloodshed and war, and the cost of escaping them for the hope of a better life.","brand":"Nazanine Hozar (CA)","offers":[{"title":"Knopf Canada |  Hardback  |  2026-09-29","offer_id":48995678519551,"sku":"9780735280892","price":36.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_27bb77f0-b0a3-4b09-a4b4-77c237e9a04b.jpg?v=1786484479","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9780735280892","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}