The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer - first published 2007
Set in the early 1980s shortly after the Iranian Revolution. Jewish gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested and wrongly accused of being an Israeli spy, although his family have lived and worked in Iran for several generations. He is imprisoned for many months and endures torture and solitary confinement. Many of his fellow prisoners are executed. The book is about how he copes in prison and how his wife Farnaz and daughter Shirin in Tehran do their best to help him and how his son Parviz, who has already been sent to study in New York, makes a life for himself there without his family. Not a cheerful book but there is a happy ending for the family. I would also recommend the excellent graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which has several parallels with this story for people wanting to read another book about the consequences of the Islamic Revolution for ordinary Iranians. 7/10
26th January 2011
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