Dalia Sofer The September of Shiraz Dalia Sofer

The September of Shiraz

Dalia Sofer

HarperCollins ECCO, Jul 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 9780061130403

In 1981 in Tehran, the Revolutionary Guards arrest Jewish gem trader Isaac Amin at is his business office accusing him of espionage. The real reason for his incarceration is religion as the Ayatollah led Muslim fanaticism has taken the country. Besides being Jewish and affluent, Isaac, like any business man in Iran, did have loose ties to the fallen regime of the Shah, but those who hold him prisoner for seditious acts need no proof to do so.

As Isaac observes torture and execution, he worries what will happen to his wife Farnaz and their daughter Shirin. He thanks God that their son Parviz attends college in Brooklyn. Although he has no way of knowing what is happening to his two females as contact is forbidden, he has cause to fret about their safety. Farnaz is spiraling into an out of control depression as she anguishes what to do. Shirin is outraged at the persecution of her father and she steals documents from the father of a playmate; the man runs the prison where her dad has vanished inside. In Brooklyn, Parviz, who was not very religious to start with, has deeper doubts with his father's arrest and struggles with surviving as he is suddenly poor; he also has fallen in love with a devout Hasidic.

This is a deep historical fiction tale that warns the audience that religious prejudice harms individuals, families and communities regardless of the group claiming God's blessings. However, the key to this well written thought provoking cautionary tale is the Amin family. Each took for granted their status under the Shah choosing to ignore the atrocities and the threats to their lives once the upheaval occurred. Thus the Guard sees the Amin family, especially Isaac, as part of the problem. Dalia Sofer provides a poignant family drama using a twentieth century pivotal point as the catalyst.

Harriet Klausner