Khadija Magardie Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey by Alison Wearing (Macmillan) The picture of a black-eyed, veiled woman on the cover of Canadian journalist Alison Wearing’s new book would suggest yet another “us versus them” book on the stereotypical exoticism of the Middle East. It is a disappointment that, three chapters into the book, the reader is left feeling that the seemingly obsessive preoccupation with the Islamic hejab (veil) is all there is to Iran, about which there is still relatively little known. Luckily, Wearing eventually dismisses her own discomfort with hejab, and goes on to describe, in unexpectedly positive and colourful detail, her journey through Iran, perhaps the purest Islamic state in the world today. While Iran, since the establishment of an Islamic republic in 1979, has often been vilified in the West, it at the same time fascinates many. The major strength of this book is that the author does not use it to launch political broadsides, but confines herself to describing the real people within the system.
In one chapter, Wearing admits her prejudices. “I have come to this place because it frightens me; because it frightens the world,” she writes. And the book is not without the standard fare of Iran horror tales that are used to spice up virtually all non-fiction written on the country. These “urban legends”, such as the infamous Not without My Daughter saga (in which an American woman claimed she and her child were held captive by her husband in revolutionary Iran) find their way into the book, but Wearing relates them in the words of Iranians themselves. Honeymoon in Purdah highlights the very real contradiction of Iranian society, where official attempts to demonise the so- called West (particularly the United States) have had the near reverse effect on the population. Everywhere Wearing travels, she is greeted with near-idolisation by ordinary Iranians, who are not only fascinated by her as a Western woman, but are hungry for information on what “the outside world” is like. Yet the vast majority of the people quoted in in the book appear to speak out of mere curiosity, while retaining a passionate loyalty to the Islamic republic. The best parts of the book are the conversations with ordinary Iranians, such as an old mullah or religious man in the city of Qum, who explains, perhaps more clearly than has ever been written in similar literature, why Iranians continue to support the revolution despite trying circumstances. Anyone wanting an insight into the people of Iran will find Honeymoon in Purdah interesting. From the complete stranger buying the tired author a hot meal and giving it to her without saying a word, or the subtleties of taarof (Iranian etiquette), to a taxi driver inviting her to spend a night in his family’s home, the book, to its credit, lets the Iranian people speak for themselves.