They called it "Paradise", their beautiful home just outside old Tehran, and nurtured there a close bond of mutual love and respect for intellectual freedom. It was a magnet for leading thinkers and activists, who visited regularly for conversation with their best living poet and tireless champion of democracy, human rights, and women's empowerment -- Malek o'Shoara Bahar. Then one morning the children watched in horror as police dragged him away ...Intimate and emotionally engaging, this powerful memoir introduces Americans to the high-profile Iranian cultural hero Malek o'Shoara Bahar -- whose freedom poem Morghe Sahar ("Bird of Dawn") is sung regularly with great passion at rallies for human rights and the empowerment of women throughout Iran. Bahar (1882-1951) tuned his political idealism and vast poetic gifts to Iranian's deepest feelings, championing democracy, freedom, and social justice -- for which Reza Shah rewarded him with regular prison stays and the attempted ostracisation of himself and his family. He is revered internationally by progressive Iranians and celebrated as Iran's best poet of the 20th century, many say of the past 500 years.
Bahar's beloved daughter begins with moving reminiscences of her childhood and youth with him in Iran and later in Switzerland, replete with the charms and sensory delights of Tehran in the 1930s and 1940s, and punctuates the story with dozens of Bahar's poems as they are written. Then we see Parveneh carry his spirit forward into her own work as a progressive activist in the USA -- setting an inspiring example not only for Iranian women but for women throughout the world.