My roots lie in Iran and a Persian society where close-knit family ties are all-important. Here in the UK the Robb family into which I married has a few scattered relatives and not many family links. Jim and I have bucked the trend!
Jim Holmes is a freelance publishing consultant in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. Coincidentally, he also happens to be my husband’s cousin. In 2015 I contacted him online with a request for advice regarding writing something about my past life for my grandchildren, and the possibility of getting the finished pages bound for them. That was the start of a transatlantic friendship. Two years on, and more than 1000 emails later, Jim published the first edition of my memoir, Unexpected Grace: a Life in Two Worlds.
After I left Iran following the Revolution, knowing I would not return was a wrench. felt I had lost my family. Little did I envisage when Jim and I first met in April 2017 what a rich vein of gold I had struck. To quote Mencius, “Friends are the siblings God never gave us”.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.