They were to travel through Turkey; the smugglers would take them from Tehran to Tabriz and then to Van.

You can argue about how negative and stereotyping this book is, how it helped to reinforce generalized preconceptions about the Iranians, how it didn’t help to provide a better and more accurate picture of the Iranian society to the an already-hostile American public, how it was used by a sector of the American public and media who would happily jump on anything like this, how it was used by both sides as a political propaganda tool, etc. She made many friends, and even among her in-laws there were those who were sympathetic to her plight. Mother and daughter became prisoners of an alien culture, hostages of an increasingly tyrannical and violent man. After all, by all accounts, Said Mahmoody was clear, on multiple occasions, that he would find and kill her when or if she tried to escape, but not before he ensured that his daughter would be raised in a misogynistic war zone wherein she would be subject to abuse and compelled to renounce her faith, her way of life, and her place of birth. The book details her 500 mi (800 km) escape to Turkey through the snowy Iranian mountains, and the help she received from many Iranians.

She does, however, complain that every single household who helped them along the way served her "rancid" cheese that she couldn't even eat. It's troubling that in this day and age, women are treated with such disdain - and other women support it! To her horror, she found herself and her four-year-old daughter, Mahtob, virtual prisoners of a man rededicated to his Shiite Moslem faith, in a land where women are near-slaves and Americans are despised.

Although Alfred Molina plays the role of Betty’s abusive Iranian husband well in the film, reading this book really made me realize just how far gone her husband was in real life. Then he said to me, when I get married and have children, if I find that my wife is not a good mother, I will take the children and go back to turkey.On February 7, 1986, Betty and Mahtob finally arrived back home in Michigan, after spending eighteen months trapped in Iran. I think it’s quite short-sighted for anyone to delude themselves into thinking that she portrays all Iranians as bad people. A moving and inspiring story of of one woman’s courage and determination to get her and her daughter to safety and escape from an abusive and tyrannical Iranian husband and father.

It's a product of a veritable cottage industry of horror stories and black-and-white portrayals of Muslim societies (Persepolis, Reading Lolita in Tehran, etc.I know I'm probably going to get a huge backlash for saying that but I just could not empathize with the author.