Escape From Iran

Escape From Iran is an action/adventure/romance/historical/political novel which takes place in Iran during the 1979-1980 revolution which deposed the Shah and eventually seized American hostages working at the U.S. Embassy. Escape From Iran traces the interconnected lives of three idealists—Ara Vartan, an American musician; Kereshmae Nasraddin, an educated, westernized Iranian widow, and Mostafa, a pivotal leader in the new revolutionary government— all of them caught up in the bloody battles and inter-personal struggles between political factions which deposed the Shah, rejected western control of Iran, then turned upon each other in their struggle for control. Ara Vartan, an American-born musician of Armenian-Assyrian decent, has traveled to Iran on a Guggenheim Award to study Iranian classical and folk music to obtain a Ph.D. from Berkeley, CA. A product of student revolts in the late 60's, Ara is quickly caught up in the fever of political protest, then forced to flee from Tehran with his teacher, hiding out in the mountains of Kuristan to continue his studies while other Americans were being evacuated. The book begins when the Kurdish communists seize power in the the Zagros mountains. Ara is forced to flee, this time back toward Tehran where he hopes to convince the U.S. Embassy to send him home. On the bus, he meets a beautiful young widow who is also on her way to Tehran—to die! Kereshmae intends to join an anti-mullah party (Motjadeen-Khalq) and fight for women's rights. Thrown together by circumstances, she and Ara are captured outside the Tehran bus terminal after curfew. Kereshmae is branded as a prostitute and condemned to death. Ara insists that he is a CIA spy and demands to speak with someone high enough in authority to listen to his story, but the Mullah who interrogates him also discovers that Ara has been using drugs and condemns Ara to death. However, Ara's old friend and mentor from Berkeley, Dr. Mostafa Bazaari, who helped plot and execute the anti-Shah revolution, learns that Ara is in the Palace and intercedes on his behalf. When Ara pleads that Kereshmae be released too, Mostafa resists, finally conceding only on the condition that the two get married! Thus begins one of the strangest romances of modern times! Through their struggles the unlikely lovers are hounded by war, stripped of all beliefs and forced to face their deepest fears before they can achieve their dreams. Escape from Iran is a fast moving exotic adventure through a country in flames! It is the story of a search for peace in the rage of war, where desperate men and women must choose between their lives and their ideals.