My Uncle NapoleonBy: Iraj Pezeshkzad The most beloved Iranian novel of the twentieth century God forbid, Ive fallen in love with Layli! So begins the farce of our narrators life, one spent in a large extended Iranian family lorded over by the blustering, paranoid patriarch, Dear Uncle Napoleon. When Uncle Napoleons least favorite nephew falls for his daughter, Layli, family fortunes are reversed, feuds fired up and resolved, and assignations attempted and thwarted.