Afarin Majidi’s memoir Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is a history of hurt. It is also a remarkable testament to overcoming.

In 1979, upper middle-class Iranian women like Afarin Majidi wore French fashions and perfume, smoked in public and generally enjoyed the same social freedoms as western women. Iran was then a kingdom, ruled by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – the Shah of Iran.