Our Friend Mona

This earnest remembrance from Perry tells the life story of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a 16-year-old girl hanged in Iran in 1983 for her Bahá’í faith. Perry grew up in Shiraz, Iran, and was a childhood friend of Mona’s throughout the persecutions that swept the country and led to Mona’s death alongside nine other teenage girls. Mona’s father, a religious scholar and Bahá’í Faith leader with whom she shared a deep spiritual connection, was also executed. With copious quotes from Mona’s high school essays on her burgeoning spirituality, Perry, writing with her playwright husband, seeks to educate readers about Bahá’í Faith, which was created by Iranian Bahá’u’lláh in 1863 and takes an all-encompassing view of faith traditions with a focus on service and prayer. Her perspective as a fervent adherent enlivens the lessons. Though Perry is a passionate storyteller, the narrative of Mona’s life—her early education, the shock of the revolution, and her outspoken public support of Bahá’í Faith—sometimes relies on mystical anecdotes, such as Mona’s visions that warn her “capacity for empathy” will one day lead to suffering. However, for those with limited knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith, this book will be of great service explaining the tenets of a religion practiced by five million people worldwide. Perry luridly illustrates the intolerance and cruelty of Iranian religious authorities after the Revolution of 1979 while also paying homage to a brave young woman killed for her faith. (BookLife)