Chapters 7 through 9 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 7: Bernice

In 1976, the family moved to Newport Beach for another of Kazem's consulting jobs. People in Newport mistook them for Mexicans and assumed that they were housekeepers and gardeners because they were the only Mexicans found in Newport Beach. At school, a nurse named Bernice, swore that Firoozeh was Alaskan. She was asked by her seventh grade teacher to give a report on her homeland, the teacher was disappointed when she hauled out her Persian artifacts. The teacher thought she was from Peru!

While they lived in Newport Beach, the Iranian government took a group of Americans hostage. Americans began to look at all Iranians with suspicious eyes. Eventually, Firoozeh moved to Berkeley where some very progressive students sided against the CIA for their treatment of Iranians. While in Berkeley, Firoozeh met her future husband, a Frenchman named...