Taghi Modarresi was born in Tehran. After completing his studies in medicine at University of Tehran he moved to the US where he continued his studies. Upon completion of his education, he became a member of the department of psychiatry of the University of Maryland. The Virgin of Solitude is his last and fifth novel. His previous novels, Yakolia and Her Loneliness, Sharif Jan, Sharif Jan, The Book of Absent People, and The Pilgrim's Rules of Etiquette, were written and published in Persian. English translations of The Book of Absent People and The Pilgrim's Rules of Etiquette, undertaken by t...