Honeymoon in Purdah

Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey
By Alison Wearing

Honeymoon in Purdah is the sort of book that fills you with wanderlust. I have never had any particular desire to visit Iran, but this book paints such a vivid picture of the country and its people that I might almost change my mind. Alison Wearing is a Canadian living in Montreal. She and her roommate decide to travel to Iran posing as a young couple on their honeymoon. The book is a travel journal of her experiences and encounters as a western woman traveling in Iran. She wears a chador as required by the Muslim faith as she travels across the country, and her reflections on the symbolism of that experience for her as a woman are very interesting.

The Iranian people that she meets on her journey show her unbelievable kindness and generosity and welcome her into their homes. The book offers a compelling look at life in contemporary Iran and the ways in which its people live within the complicated intersection of religion, culture and politics.