Book description
One family's journey through the turmoil of the 1978 revolution, when
the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran, and their escape over the
mountains to Turkey, and ultimately to Australia. Banafsheh is eight
when the revolution begins in Iran. At first her family are jubilant
about the collapse of the Shah's rule and the return of Ayatollah
Khomeini, but they quickly realise that Iran has traded one dictator for
another, more ruthless, ruler. Banafsheh's parents, Kamal and Nina,
struggle with the harsh laws of the new revolutionary Iran. Khomeini's
revolutionary guard, the Komiteh, patrol the streets, enforcing Islamic
codes of dress and behaviour, and dispatching harsh justice to perceived
enemies of the revolution. They drag Nina's father in for questioning,
interrogate Nina and put Kamal on a stop-list, so he is unable to leave
the country. Fearing for the safety of their two children, Kamal and
Nina decide the family must flee their beloved country, leaving behind
their extended family and friends. But the only way of escape is to take
the dangerous route across the Turkish mountains. Banafsheh Dastyari
Serov was born in England, spent her childhood in Iran and became a
refugee at the age of twelve. It has been 25 years since Banafsheh and
her family illegally crossed the border to Turkey. Since then, she has
completed university, married and begun raising her own children in
Australia.
