For such a short, quick read book, Escape From Iran by the author Veronica Hart, packs a punch.

The reader is transported back to the last days of the Shah’s regime, Jimmy Carter’s presidency, the stage-in hostage taking at the American embassy, and the Iran-Contra scandal.

English: Shah and Carter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unlike most historical books, I lived through this time period, and therefore, the narrative was acutely more real to me than most other historical fiction novels.

Hart does a good job at giving the reader a sense of  the politics and religious zealotry that threw Iran into a tailspin and which resulted in the Ayatollah rising to power. The characters seemed real and I especially liked Amir and his inner turmoil in remaining loyal to his country and his family without being naive or foolhardy, including his exit from the story at the end.

Jessica, the main character, is real as well, though the ending seemed a bit out of character and seemed more apt to be the end for a humorous novella, not a serious piece with a voice that appears to be autobiographical, not that the author is not the life of the party. She is, but the ending for Jessica and her father I thought would be more intense.

Other than the quirky ending and at times an inability to distinguish who is talking, Escape From Iran is a book that I would highly recommend..and the scene where Hart describes the Caspian seaside…oh…it sounds so inviting!