Why a Booktrail?
1978, 2017: From Tehran to Sweden, on a new life and an escape
What We Owe
What you need to know before your trail
Tehran, 1978: Nahid and Masood, both eighteen, are young lovers and young revolutionaries, determined to overthrow the Shah’s regime and help to bring about democracy. Their clandestine activities are dangerous, but with youth, passion and right on their side, they feel invincible. Then one night, Nahid allows her younger sister to come along to a huge demonstration. Violence breaks out. Nahid lets go of her sister’s hand. Everything changes.
As the revolution sours, and the loss becomes too much to bear, Nahid and Masood are forced to flee to Sweden, on borrowed money with forged passports. Tehran is no longer safe for them, and now they are expecting a baby; they need to get out before they lose everything.
Thirty years later, Nahid lies in a hospital bed replaying her life, raging at her exile among people who while purporting to understand know nothing of what she has been through.
Travel Guide
Tehran to Stockholm
From Tehran to Sweden
The story is one of hunger,pain, struggle and perseverance. It’s the story of a woman who had to flee from her homeland during the time of the Iranian Revolution
“The revolution fell upon us like a rain of stars. I’m not sure when we realised it was a revolution we were part of. that we were revolutionaries. We wanted to be, of course. But it began like a childish dream. Children reaming of being astronaut, or move starts or president.”
“I think now we were idiots. We had everything, We had everything you could really wish for.”
“But no. We constructed principals. We wanted true freedom. We wanted it for ourselves, but above all we wanted ti for everyone else….To be soldiers for justice”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: What We Owe
Destination : Tehran, Stockholm Author/Guide: Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde Departure Time: 1978, 2008
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