Nightingale Sings

I was the first New Zealander to marry an Iranian & emigrate to live in Iran in 1968 for almost 40 years. This man was a stranger to me, but we had corresponded as penfriends, until he invited me to Iran for us to marry. He was 26 years my senior and also an International lawyer, journalist & publisher, who had just built a new home only a stone's throw from the palace of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi; our story is unique. Newspapers throughout New Zealand smelled a story, but they never knew how our secret romance began.

We married three weeks after meeting & remained in a strong marriage that lasted 46 years.

Life was one of privilege for me, socialising and mixing with the elite of Persian society, but in 1979 with the advent of the Revolution, instigated by Ayatollah Khomeini from his hideout in Paris, the nation I had adopted as my own, fell apart.
Executions of friends & a reign of terror followed which still exists in the country today. From my perspective as a non-Muslim the new Islamic Republic was the forerunner for a new era of International terrorism.

Eight and a half years of war commenced with Iraq between two demonic rulers, Khomeini & Saddam Hussein, sapping everything from our lives with the strain & slaughter of a million souls. As my husband's health deteriorated, with strokes & dementia, I faced 17 gruelling years nursing him first in Iran and later in London where I now live. This is the story of my journey from a quiet life in Ngaruawahia, spanning 3 continents and my lifetime.