After Tehran

Book excerpt: Marina Nemat’s bestselling Prisoner of Tehran chronicled her arrest, torture, and two-year imprisonment in the notorious Evin prison as a teenager in 1980s revolutionary Iran. In her new book, Nemat provides a riveting account of her escape from Iran and her journey to Canada, via Hungary, with her husband and infant son in 1991. Settling into a new life as immigrants, she and her husband find jobs, raise their two children, and seemingly adapt. But inwardly, Nemat is struggling. Haunted by survivor’s guilt, she feels compelled to speak out about what happened to her in prison. Her account becomes a bestselling book; and again her life is changed. A story of courage and recovery, After Tehran chronicles Nemat’s confrontation with her past, how she re-engages with her distant father, and how ultimately she emerges from the emotional ravages of posttraumatic stress.