Book: The Persian Bride

Author: James Buchanan

Review: A young Englishman finds himself in Iran in 1974.  He speaks Persian, and is able to forge documents to get a job teaching at a girls school.  He falls in love and marries the daughter of a high ranking Iranian official.  They have to flee with the help of a Russian diplomat/spy.  John only gets to spend a year with his bride and their baby daughter before they are forced apart during the serious upheavals of Iran in the seventies.

This book was a bit confusing in places, but the story of John searching for Shirin is incredible.  They spend years in prisons being tortured, because it turns out that she is the illegetimate daughter of the Shah.  I would recommend getting some of the backstory on Iran's polictial history before trying to read this.