From Miniskirt to Hijab, Jacqueline Saper
From Miniskirt to Hijab, Jacqueline Saper
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From Miniskirt to Hijab
A Girl in Revolutionary Iran

Author: Jacqueline Saper

Narrator: Vaneh Assadourian

Unabridged: 6 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/12/2021


Synopsis

Jacqueline Saper, named after Jacqueline Kennedy, was born in Tehran to Iranian and British parents. At eighteen she witnessed the civil unrest of the 1979 Iranian revolution and continued to live in the Islamic Republic during its most volatile times, including the Iran-Iraq War. In a deeply intimate and personal story, Saper recounts her privileged childhood in prerevolutionary Iran and how she gradually became aware of the paradoxes in her life and community—primarily the disparate religions and cultures.In 1979 under the Ayatollah regime, Iran became increasingly unfamiliar and hostile to Saper. Seemingly overnight she went from living a carefree life of wearing miniskirts and attending high school to listening to fanatic diatribes, forced to wear the hijab, and hiding in the basement as Iraqi bombs fell over the city. She eventually fled to the United States in 1987 with her husband and children after, in part, witnessing her six-year-old daughter’s indoctrination into radical Islamic politics at school. At the heart of Saper’s story is a harrowing and instructive tale of how extremist ideologies seized a Westernized, affluent country and transformed it into a fundamentalist Islamic society.

About Jacqueline Saper

Jacqueline Saper is a CPA, educator, translator, and public speaker. An expert on Iranian subject matter, her opinion columns and articles regularly appear in national and international publications.

About Vaneh Assadourian

Vaneh Assadourian is an actress, audiobook narrator, and voice actor who received her bachelor's degree from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. Based in Los Angeles, California, she has lent her voice to different genres of books including autobiographies, romance, and juvenile fiction.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura on May 25, 2021

A fascinating biography and tale of the Iranian revolution from the perspective of the once thriving a Jewish Iranian minority. My only complaint and the reason for the 3 stars is that the story could have benefited from a thorough round of editing. Key points and even events repeat themselves throu......more

Goodreads review by Lori on January 13, 2025

4.5 Jacqueline Saper, daughter of a Jewish father and English mother - both Jewish, grew up in Iran both before and after the fall of the Shah. Her story is multifaceted - being a woman, being Jewish, in this tumultuous country. Her family staying during dangerous times echoes the Jews who stayed on......more

Goodreads review by Elana on January 21, 2025

This was for a book club so was fun to read something totally different I wouldn’t otherwise have picked. Learned lots about the Iranian revolution but was very steam of consciousness/rambly at times......more

Goodreads review by Sylvia on January 02, 2021

Fascinating story. I’ve read other accounts of the fall of the Shah and the Iranian revolution, but they all end soon after the Ayatollah has taken over power. In this recounting, the family doesn’t leave until years later and is subject to all the crazy things like the morality police and six years......more


Quotes

“From Miniskirt to Hijab is the best book yet to explain the contrast of life under the rule of the Shah versus that of the Ayatollahs. Saper is uniquely able to articulate the underlying dynamic of Iran’s sudden rejection of a Western culture that was idealized for years before 1979. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the causes of turmoil in one of the most volatile regions of the world.” Bobak Kalhor, director and producer of A Dying King: The Shah of Iran