title: Old Shemiran Road
author: Morisset, David
description: A beautiful Persian woman and a naïve Western man are drawn together by love and desire in the rapidly changing Iran of the 1970s. But their romance is cut short when Manijeh and Ben are cruelly separated by family ties and cultural clashes. Just when all seems lost, violent revolution and political betrayal provide the incentive for them to start again, if they have the courage. In 2010 David Morisset published 'Conquest of the Persian Garden', a romantic thriller set in Iran at the time of the Islamic Revolution. 'Old Shemiran Road' is a thoroughly revised version of that novel. The central story remains loosely based on Ferdowsi's epic tale of 'Bijan and Manijeh', but various alterations have been made in the light of recent research and ongoing political ferment in the Middle East and West Asia. 'Old Shemiran Road’ takes the reader to revolutionary Tehran as the final months of the Shah's reign give way to a period of tumultuous upheavals while Iran's ruthless new leaders fortify the foundations for their rule of terror.