Book Review - Not Without My Daughter

Not Without My Daughter is a real story of the ordeal of an American woman captivated as a hostage in the hostile environment of Iran by her own husband.

In 1977, divorced American Betty Lover marries an Iranian doctor - Bozorg Mahmoody “Moody” who had been living and working in America for many years. His plans then were to settle in America and never to go back to his motherland. But, soon a dramatic story of conspiracy starts to unfold in 1984 when Moody convinces his wife to accompany him with their 4-year daughter Mahtob on a 2-week vacation to his homeland.

During those 2 weeks, Betty and her daughter witness hostile environment and oppressive government rules of Iran and for the same reason feel elated about returning to their country. However, her mysterious husband plays a ploy to trap both of them in Iran for rest of the life. 

Suffering as a captive in an alien country, she develops a strong loathing for her perverse husband. On the other hand, she is not able to see her dying father waiting on his last breaths to see her.  

The strongest disadvantage which she found about her rescue was that the Iranian government and the society at that time were both anti-American as well as male-dominated. 

In the rest of the book, Betty describes the atrocities bestowed upon by her husband and her real struggles to elope from the alien country and the feral husband by every possible way.

The book has got a lot of depth and emotions specially because it’s a real struggle story of a 

MOTHER…