In Free Mountain, her powerful new memoir, Farideh Sabeti Fathi documents her early childhood in Sangesar, a town in the province of Semnan, near the Alborz Mountains in Iran. She details her personal experiences as a girl growing up and attending school and college in Iran. Farideh then tells the story of how she traveled across the ocean to attend graduate school in California and returned home to teach psychology at the University of Tehran.
Then, the Islamic Revolution began.
As Farideh's life was torn apart by political turmoil, she and her husband had to make a difficult decision. Should they stay in Iran and adjust to all the changes, or should they find a place where their children could be exposed to different cultures and value systems? Farideh cherished her roots and connections, but she also understood that she was homesick for a country that no longer existed. They chose to leave.
Farideh's work examines her dual identities as a daughter of Iran and an adopted child of America. She shines a light on the complex challenges faced by immigrants in the United States. She tells a personal story of overcoming great odds-growing up in a peaceful environment but eventually being faced with a great deal of chaos and fear, only to survive and find a new life. Farideh hopes that her story will expand your view of the world and inspire you to tell your own unique story.
About the Author: Farideh Sabeti Fathi was born in Sangesar in northern Iran. She attended school and college in Tehran, and graduated from the University of Tehran with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Farideh went on to attend graduate school in the United States and received her master's degree in developmental psychology from San Francisco State University.
She taught psychology at the University of Tehran. Several years after the Islamic revolution, she and her family immigrated to the United States, she became a college student again and received her educational specialist degree in school psychology from the University of Central Florida. she has been working as a school psychologist since 1993.
Farideh and her husband, Parviz, live in Florida. Their two children, Dr. Amir Tahmasb Fathi and Azadeh "Azi" Fathi, live and work in Massachusetts.
