Shortlisted for YoungMinds Book Award 2007.

'Like a harrowing Thousand and One Arabian Nights", Prisoner of Tehran "is the story of Marina Nemat-- her unvarnished courage, her intrepid wisdom, her fight to save her integrity and her family in a world in which to be female is to be chattel. Written with the deft hands of a novelist, it is the portrait of a world only too real, where women's lives are cheap --but not this one' -- Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN and CAGE OF STARS 'Prisoner" of Tehran" is a harrowing journey, an account of growth under the darkest of circumstances and a trial of faith in the face of overwhelming horror. It is skillfully constructed, with a keen sense of suspense' -- Robert J. Wiersema, author of BEFORE I AWAKE 'Nemat (tells) an extraordinary story of life in revolutionary Iran, of imprisonment, forced marriage and conversion to Islam' -- Sue Baker, Publishing News 'Nemat tells of her harrowing experience as a young Iranian girl at the start of the Islamic revolution. In January 1982, the 16-year-old student activist was arrested, jailed in Tehran's infamous Evin prison, tortured and sentenced to death. Ali, one of her interrogators, intervened moments before her execution, having used family connections with Ayatollah Khomeini himself to reduce her sentence to life in prison. The price: she would convert to Islam (she was Christian) and marry him, or he would see to it that her family and boyfriend, Andre, were jailed or even killed. She remained a political prisoner for two years. Nemat's engaging memoir is rich with complex characters - loved ones lost on both sides of this bloody conflict. Ali, the man who rapes and subjugates her, also saves her life several times - he is assassinated by his own subordinates. His family embraces Nemat with more affection and acceptance than her own, even fighting for her release after his death. Nemat ret -- Publishers' Weekly, US '[An] unforgettable memoir. Haunted by her lost friends and by her betrayal of them, Nemat tells her story without messages and with no sense of heroism' -- Booklist, starred review

Marina Nemat was born in Tehran and grew up during the Iranian revolution. She now lives in Canada with her husband and their two sons.