Seven people tell this story. Not one of them tells all of it.

In this reimagining of Zahhak, one of the most haunting figures in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Atoosa Salehi retells the legendary tale of the serpent-shouldered king.

Mardas, Zahhak’s father, remembers the beloved son he once believed would bring light to the world. Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil, insists he only dug the well; it was Zahhak’s own hands that covered it with thorns. Shahrnaz and Faranak speak of captivity, loss, and the long years of waiting. Kaveh the blacksmith gives voice to a people who have suffered in silence; Fereydun rises to challenge the tyrant. And finally, Zahhak himself speaks from his dark prison on Mount Damavand, asking to be heard—not as the monster of legend, but as the man who remembers his own story.

Moving between love, ambition, fear, grief, resistance, and hope, Zahhak: The Serpent-Shouldered offers a new perspective on one of the most enduring figures of Persian mythology. Seven voices reveal seven ways of seeing the same story: how a tyrant is made, how fear can silence a people, and how courage can turn a single voice into a collective cry for freedom.

A creative retelling of Zahhak’s story from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, this book invites readers to listen again—and to wonder what might change when those who have lived a legend are finally allowed to tell it themselves.