by Camelia EntekhabifardFrom the publisher:
"A courageous book by a gifted journalist that peels back the many layers of repression faced by journalists in Iran. Entekhabifard has written an affecting, emotionally rich memoir that is a must-read for anyone concerned with the current Iranian predicament, women's rights, or the plight of journalists in authoritarian states."- Afshin Molavi
Camelia Entekhabifard was six years old in 1979 when the shah of Iran was overthrown by revolutionary supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Despite the terrors and deprivation of the long Iran/Iraq war, and the constant threat of the religious police patrolling their neighborhood, the Entekhabifards chose to stay in Tehran, incredibly surviving two decades of violent change, though some family members were disappeared by the Ayatollah's military forces.
By the age of sixteen, Camelia was a nationally celebrated poet, and at eighteen she was one of the youngest reformist journalists in Tehran. Just eight years later she was imprisoned, held in solitary confinement, and charged with breaching national security and challenging the authority of the Islamic regime.
After months of solitary confinement and daily interrogation, Camelia confesses to crimes she did not commit, and comes to believe that she is in love with her brutal interrogator. Thus unfolds a dramatic account of this morally ambivalent and emotionally troubling relationship. Once outside of prison, Camelia must struggle anew for her freedom, and find her way out of the compromising secrets she shares with this dangerous and powerful man.
Camelia is both a story of growing up in post-revolutionary Tehran and a haunting reminder of the consequences of speaking the truth in a repressive society.
Camelia Entekhabifard, a journalist and native of Tehran, currently lives in New York City and spends part of her time reporting from Afghanistan.
