The person I admire for her accomplishment is Betty Mahmoody, autobiographer of the novel "Not Without My Daughter" which is a convincing adventure and fascinating story of an ordinary woman's extraordinary courage. .
Betty Mahmoody , manage to escape a beating husband in a hostile country, with only hope, courage and imagination, without considering leaving her daughter behind. Since returning from Iran in 1986, she has devoted her life to helping hundreds of others in similar situations. She tries to promote understanding between cultures and to protect children of bi-cultural marriage. She also became an expert in international kidnapping. She acquired all her experience and her knowledge in consequence of the two years of fear and struggle in Iran. .
In August of 1984, Betty Mahmoody went to Iran with her husband, an American Moslem and four-year-old daughter Mahtob, on a two-week trip to visit his family in Teheran. However, once the two weeks were over, he refused to allow them to leave. Betty and her daughter became virtual prisoners of a man who had rededicated himself to the Shiite Moslem faith. Mahmoody's husband separated her from her daughter for weeks. He beat her and threatened to kill her if she left the house or tried to call for help. One afternoon, she managed to slip away from the house and went to the embassy for help. The embassy couldn't help her, since, by marring an Iranian, she automatically became a citizen under Iranian law. Although they told her that her only chance was to escape without her daughter, she refused to consider this option. Betty finally found someone to help her to escape and to drive them to a safer place. The escape route was risky as Betty and her daughter were driven at night from Teheran to mountains. Once they hit the mountains, they hid out in a barn until they crossed the ice and snow-covered mountains that border Iran and Turkey. The guides dragged Betty and carried her daughter the final distance to their freedom.
