Author(s): Latifi Afschineh

Biography & Memoir

An unforgettable story of one family's perseverance and triumph against all odds

In February 1979, when Afschineh Latifi was just ten years old, her father, a colonel under the Shah of Iran, was imprisoned by Khomeini's soldiers. Afschineh and her three siblings were left in the care of their mother, who did everything in her power to free her husband from jail and who struggled to survive in a newly fundamentalist society that was openly hostile to women.

In late May, Colonel Latifi was executed, shot with little fanfare on a prison rooftop, and the story begins. Fearing for the safety of her daughters, Mrs. Latifi made a heartrending decision: She sent Afschineh and her sister, Afsaneh, abroad, knowing it might be years before she embraced them again - if ever.

Even After All This Time is an immigrant saga unlike any other. It is the story of a self-made man and the schoolteacher with whom he fell in love, of a family torn apart by war and violence, and of the two little girls who found themselves on their own in America, forced to become strong young women before they even had a childhood. It is also a testament to a mother and father who taught their children the true meaning of love, courage, and honor, and who gave them the inner strength they needed to achieve their dreams.