Dear Baba: A Story Through Letters

by Maryam Rafiee, Adam Braver

Maryam Rafiee was only a teenager when her father, Hossein Rafiee, was first imprisoned in Iran for expressing his political views. Unable to see or speak to him, she wrote him letters that she could never send. She recorded the things she wished she could tell him: thoughts on school, home, the family's struggle to free him, and "most importantly" her own hopes and dreams. Fifteen years later, in the wake of her father's second imprisonment, Maryam offers these letters to the world, to reveal the suffering undergone by prisoners of conscience and their families. Her story is one of hope, courage, and love in the face of tyranny.

225 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2019

About the author

Maryam was born in 1983 in Tehran, Iran, and has worked as a chemist, a conservator of cultural heritage sites, and an archaeologist. She is the author of numerous articles on the cultural heritage of Iran. She currently lives in Ontario, Canada, where her personal essays on her experiences as an immigrant and as a daughter of a political prisoner have appeared in local and international newspapers

Reviews

[Parastoo Azizi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often we hear about political and other prisoners yet we do not hear as much about how their imprisonment impacts their families. And how they cope.
In 2001, Maryam was a teenager when first her father was arrested she wrote letters to him almost everyday, so she can give them to him once he is free and fill him in on what he missed. Many years later after her father was arrested again she decided to publish these latters.
This is a very emotional book, that takes the reader on a journey with her to see her growth, suffering, and life as she is going through last year of high school while her father is in prison. Yet the letters are alot more than emotions, fears and hopes of a teenager in her situation; she also writes about political happenings of the time in Iran, the ways in which her mother and other women of political prisoners fought for the release of their loved ones, the court, prison and the system from view of a young girl who is dragged into it, and also an account of kindness and solidarity of people including strangers towards her family, hope and courage and much more.
The letters are written with utmost sincerity as they were not written with publication or even any audience other than her baba in mind.

[Samira Alipour · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspirational collection of letters by a 17 year old whose father is imprisoned in solitary confinement for expressing his political views of the rulings system... In the midst of her family’s suffering and her mother’s declining health, she takes refuge in writing letters to her father, expressing daily events, her views on the political and social issues, the family’s efforts to free her father, mixed with feelings of hope, anger and sorrow... The letters were never sent to him in prison and even impossible to do so. The story magnifies the voices of families of the political prisoners and their loved ones, who are normally in the shadow and forgotten while they experience huge amount of pain. It is a true record of history by someone who has lived through the situation and tells an unbiased and real side of the story.

The letters were published 15 years later after her father was imprisoned for the second time in 2015. Living in Canada and being far from home, she decides to break her silence and become his voice by advocating for his freedom.... Very motivational and highly recommend to read