Chapter 2
NellyTehran
1972
Nelly was tired of the damp skies and jostling crowds of
London. She had finished university and now searched for something she could
not name but was convinced would change her life. When the British Council
accepted her application to teach English in Tehran, she packed her bags
immediately. She hoped that a year abroad, in the city that her guidebook
described as the ‘Paris of the East’, would be the answer.
When Nelly stepped off the plane at Mehrabad airport,
the sky stretched out like blue satin and snow-capped peaks glistened in the
distance. The sun was not the wan orb she had known in England, but a ball
of eastern fire. Dazzled, she fumbled in her bag for sunglasses.
“Quite a change, isn’t it?” said a voice behind
her.
Nelly turned to fin
