Iran, We Ran

In Iran, being known can be fatal. For some, the only way to survive is to leave.

After the revolution, silence becomes a way of life. Conformity offers safety. But for those who cannot conceal who they are - or what they are caught up in - remaining is no longer an option.

Behrooz, a talented interior designer from a comfortable Tehran family, had studied in France and experienced a version of freedom that now feels impossibly distant. When the Morality Police raid a secret nightclub, the fragile balance of his life collapses. What he once managed to keep hidden suddenly places him in danger.

Solayman grows up near the Afghan border, the youngest child in a poor farming family. Curious and sharp-minded, he glimpses possibilities beyond his village while working at a market stall. That curiosity leads him into smuggling - a decision that spirals out of control when a shipment fails and he finds himself hunted by ruthless forces he barely understands. The Taliban.

As their lives intersect, both men are pushed toward choices shaped by fear, class and circumstance. In a country where power is arbitrary, borders are hard, and trust is perilous, escape becomes an act of survival. The West - and places like Australia - offers hope, but only through forged papers, favours from strangers and risks taken in desperation.

Iran, We Ran is a tense and emotionally grounded novel about identity, exile and the cost of freedom. It tells a story of people forced to abandon the lives they know, not in search of adventure but to stay alive.

A novel for readers drawn to literary fiction, political narratives and stories of displacement and re-settlement.