Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115872 in Books
• Published on: 1989-03-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 423 pages

From the Back Cover
'You are here for the rest of your life. Do you understand? You are not leaving Iran. You are here until you die.'

Betty Mahmoody and her husband, Dr Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody ('Moody'), came to Iran from the USA to meet Moody's family. With them was their four-year-old daughter, Mahtob. Appalled by the squalor of their living conditions, horrified by what she saw of a country where women are merely chattels and Westerners are despised, Betty soon became desperate to return to the States. But Moody, and his often vicious family, had other plans. Mother and daughter became prisoners of an alien culture, hostages of an increasingly tyrannical and violent man.

Betty began to try to arrange an escape. Evading Moody's sinister spy network, she secretly met sympathisers opposed to Khomeini's savage regime. But every scheme that was suggested to her meant leaving Mahtob behind for ever...

Eventually, Betty was given the name of a man who would plan their perilous route out of Iran, a journey that few women or children had ever made. Their nightmare attempt to return home began in a bewildering snowstorm...

About the Author
Betty Mahmoody
Betty Mahmoody now lives again in Michigan with Mahtob and her two sons from her first marriage.

William Hoffer is the co-author of Midnight Express and Saved: The Story of the Andrea Doria. He lives in Virginia.

Customer Reviews

A mother and daughters terrifying eighteen-month ordeal
On 3rd August 1984 Betty Mahmoody arrived in Iran with her four-year-old daughter Mahtob, who was then approaching five for a "two week holiday" and to meet her husbands family. Her husband Dr Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody ("Moody") had lived in the United States of America for two decades and was an American educated and qualified doctor.

Unknown to Betty was the fact that prior to her departure to Iran Moody lost his job at the Michigan hospital where he had been working.

Upon their arrival at the airport in Tehran, Iran's capital. Moody's family were there to greet them showering flowers upon Betty and Mahtob. Little did Betty and Mahtob know were the appalling squalor of their living conditions that were to welcome them. The whole house was unhygienic and fifthly and the place stank of mildew. The food, which they ate often, had bugs in them.

The day before they were due to go home Moody told his wife and daughter, "You are here for the rest of your life. Do you understand? You are not leaving Iran. You are here until you die."

Over time Moody grew more and more violent and often beat Betty physical but also tortured her mentally, verbally and emotionally. On several occasions he threatened to kill her and he even threatened to beat Mahtob up.

Both mother and daughter soon found themselves held hostage and constantly spied upon, either by Moody or his family. Moody once separated Mahtob from her mother for several weeks and was questioned and crossed-examined by one of Moodys relatives.

After several escape plans fell through Betty was given the name of the man who would help her and Mahtob out of Iran. They crossed the border into Turkey and made their way to the American Embassy after nearly a week of walking in the mountains with smugglers. Turkey being the most dangerous way out of Iran.

I strongly suggest you read this book to be able to appreciate what Betty and Mahtob went though during their eighteen-months of hell.

A START OF MANY.A MUST READ
Before this book I never read,as nothing seemed to intrest me.Since this book I am constantly trying to find more on the same subject.When I started reading,it took me just over 1 day,it is a book you will find hard to put down.It is a story which keeps you gripped just trying to find out if betty was able to escape with her daughter safely.This book really gets you emontionally involved.You feel as if you are there with them.The story tells us that no matter how much you think you know someone you just don't.Betty trusted her husband and followed him to Iran to meet his family.When she got there he kept her a prisoner took her daughter away from her and tried to change her normal way of life.Betty had to furture endanger her life and that of her daughters to get a way from a mad man.Since then I have also watched the movie and I must say it is not as good as the book.I have recommended this book to all my friends and will keep doing so.

Informative and emotive
Not without my daughter shows the lengths that a woman will go to to ensure the best possible life for her child. It not only tells the story of love and how it changes everything but it puts this story in an inhospitible environment in the middle east.
Until reading this book I did not realise the extent to which both natives and westerners have to respect the law in Iran. I was wholey unaware of the way in which women are treated by their fellow menfolk and was shocked and frightened by what I read.
A must read for anyone interested in other cultures and understanding of the power of love.