The true story is based on the author's memories of his childhood in Iran and as a refugee, and of his memories of stories told to him of ancestors and Persian heroes and villains. While at times it seems disjointed, this weaving of so many stories, is his being Scheherazade, whom he mentions often. She wove stories together for one thousand nights in order to save her life. He weaves stories together to keep you reading and to hold on to his memories of grandparents that he will never see again, of places he can never visit because of his own choices, and of his mother, whose story this really is.
Most of the stories he tells are hard. I don't like to know that children and adults can be so cruel. His mother left everything. She took her children from the safe and prosperous home in Iran to the midnight streets of Dubai to a cement refugee hotel in Italy to the plains of Oklahoma. In all of these places they were outcasts, "gypsies," and foreigners whose home culture was a source of mocking. The smell of their food. The sound of their language.
She did all this because of one thing. She became a Christian and refused to reveal the other underground believers in Iran. For this, a fatwa was issued for her and her children. So she fled.
The book raises questions in my mind. What am I willing to endure, and to put my children through, for the truth? I have often thought that raising my children to believe in God is the most un-safe thing I can probably do. It may lead to loss of jobs, of friends, and of a normal life. This book shows how valuable her faith was for her and how unstoppable she was in trying to save her children and be true to her faith.
Several videos are available on the book's website with interviews and other glimpses of the author's life. While they were probably designed to make people want to read the book, watching them after reading was like meeting a pen pal, someone only known through letters.
