Search - Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey

Travelling with a male friend, in the guise of a couple on their honeymoon, Wearing set out on her own at every available opportunity. She went looking for what lay beneath the media's representation of Iran and found a country made up of welcoming, curious, warm-hearted, ambitious men and women. Through her, we meet the ordinary and extraordinary people of Iran-those whose lives extend beyond Western news stories of kidnappings, terrorism, veiled women, and Islamic fundamentalism. She introduces us to a gregarious young opium dealer who dreams of America, policemen who bring tea, a stranger waving hello in his pajamas, a playful eight year-old girl only a year away from the possibility of marriage, and an irrepressible, heroic Anglican minister.

Peppered with accounts of Iran's Islamic Revolution and political analyses of the country, Honeymoon in Purdah is a departure from our conventional perception of Iran. With humor and compassion, Alison Wearing give Iranians the chance to wander beyond headlines and stereotypes, and in so doing, reveals the poetry of their lives.