The Blindfold Horse: Memories of a Persian Childhood by Guppy, Shusha (2004) Paperback

Decades before the Iranian revolution of 1979, which placed the country under a repressive religious rule, Shusha Guppy grew up in a Persia delicately balanced between traditional Islamic life and the transforming forces of westernization. In this eloquent memoir, Guppy recreates the lost world of her childhood before the oil boom and the eventual overthrow of the Shah. Her lively tales about relatives, friends, music, drama, religious holidays, and celebrations bring to life a vanished society caught between the oppressive but stable strictures of the past and the unsettling freedoms of the future. In this eloquent memoir, Shusha Guppy recreates the lost world of her childhood in Tehran before the oil boom and the eventual overthrow of the Shah. Long before the momentous Iranian Revolution of 1979, which placed the country under strict religious rule, Shusha Guppy grew up in a Persia delicately balanced between traditional Islamic society and the transforming forces of westernisation.Guppy's magical tales about relatives and friends, music and drama, religious holidays and celebrations are interwoven with myth and legend, poetry and anecdote and provide a rare and optimistic portrayal of Iran; quite at odds with prevailing views of the country today.Through these glimpses of everyday life she makes subtle yet astute social and political observations at a significant time in Iran's history, when the country was caught between the oppressive but stable disciplines of the past and the unsettling freedoms of the future.This is an enlightening and moving testimony of a vanished world: a story as vibrant as Iran itself. "Long before the momentous Iranian Revolution of 1979, which placed the country under strict religious rule, Shusha Guppy grew up in a Persia delicately balanced between traditional Islamic society and the transforming forces of westernisation. In this memoir, she recreates the lost world of her childhood before the oil boom and the eventual overthrow of the Shah. Her tales about relatives and friends, music and drama, religious holidays and celebrations are interwoven with myth and legend, poetry and anecdote and provide a rare and optimistic portrayal of Iran; quite at odds with prevailing views of the country today. Through these glimpses of everyday life she makes subtle yet astute social and political observations at a significant time in Iran's history, when the country was caught between the oppressive but stable disciplines of the past and the unsettling freedoms of the future. This is a testimony of a vanished world."--Jacket Long before the momentous Iranian Revolution of 1979, which placed the country under strict religious rule, Shusha Guppy grew up in a Persia delicately balanced between traditional Islamic society and the transforming forces of westernisation. In this eloquent memoir, she recreates the lost world of her childhood before the oil boom and the eventual overthrow of the Shah. Her magical tales about relatives and friends, music and drama, religious holidays and celebrations are interwoven with myth and legend, poetry and anecdote and provide a rare and optimistic portrayal of Iran. This is an enli Long before the momentous Iranian Revolution of 1979, which placed the country under strict religious rule, the author grew up in a Persia delicately balanced between traditional Islamic society and the transforming forces of westernisation. This title recreates the lost world of her childhood before the oil boom and the overthrow of the Shah. "Guppy's memoir of life in Iran before the Ayatollahs is exquisite. It conveys a sense of the country and its customs, which reveal better than most documents, the nature of the crisis which Iran is still enduring." -William Shawcross, Sunday Times (London)