Medusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki

A queer noir-infused love story of violence, vengeance and desire, Medusa of the Roses is a provocative, propulsive novel with the wild intensity of a fever dream.
Anjir and Zal have been together ever since they first knew what love was. But living in Iran, the two men must keep their relationship hidden, potentially on pain of death. When Zal gets attacked after being caught with another man in public, Anjir is heartbroken by the betrayal but chooses to forgive as the pair formulate a plan for the future.

The Iranian government will partially pay for a trans person's gender-confirming surgeries and Anjir, who's always identified with the mythical gender-changing Tiresias, will become a woman. Together they can move away from Tehran for a fresh start as husband and wife. Then Zal vanishes, leaving only a cryptic note behind.

Anjir embarks on a quest through the queer underground of Tehran in search for the other man, hoping he will lead him to Zal. But someone is tailing Anjir too and the further into Zal's secrets he delves, the more he suspects that further violence may soon be necessary.
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'Navid Sinaki's writing is really, really something. Reading Medusa of the Roses not only pleasures through its chaseable story and meticulously tuned characters, it offers the non-stop bedazzlement of some of the most intoxi- cating and yet exacting prose I've read in ages. It's a rush of a novel, and honestly kind of perfect.', Dennis Cooper
 
'A powerful debut ... unflinching and bold'  Observer