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SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘A warm, funny account of a road trip in contemporary Iran. It’s had my whole family howling with laughter and shedding a few tears’ – Shappi Khorsandi, Guardian
‘A proper travelogue – a joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale’ – National Geographic Traveller Books of the Year
In 2011, at the height of tension between the British and Iranian governments, travel writer Lois Pryce found a note left on her motorcycle outside the Iranian Embassy in London:
… I wish that you will visit Iran so you will see for yourself about my country. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!! Please come to my city, Shiraz. It is very famous as the friendliest city in Iran, it is the city of poetry and gardens and wine!!!
Your Persian friend,
Habib
Intrigued, Lois decides to ignore the official warnings against travel (and the warnings of her friends and family) and sets off alone on a 3,000 mile ride from Tabriz to Shiraz, to try to uncover the heart of this most complex and incongruous country. Along the way, she meets carpet sellers and drug addicts, war veterans and housewives, doctors and teachers – people living ordinary lives under the rule of an extraordinarily strict Islamic government.
Revolutionary Ride is the story of a people and a country. Religious and hedonistic, practical and poetic, modern and rooted in tradition – and with a wild sense of humour and appreciation of beauty despite the comparative lack of freedom – this is real contemporary Iran.
‘Within a few pages I’d recognised a kindred spirit’ – Dervla Murphy, author of Full Tilt
‘A warm, funny account of a road trip in contemporary Iran. It’s had my whole family howling with laughter and shedding a few tears’ – Shappi Khorsandi, Guardian
‘A proper travelogue – a joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale’ – National Geographic Traveller Books of the Year
In 2011, at the height of tension between the British and Iranian governments, travel writer Lois Pryce found a note left on her motorcycle outside the Iranian Embassy in London:
… I wish that you will visit Iran so you will see for yourself about my country. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!! Please come to my city, Shiraz. It is very famous as the friendliest city in Iran, it is the city of poetry and gardens and wine!!!
Your Persian friend,
Habib
Intrigued, Lois decides to ignore the official warnings against travel (and the warnings of her friends and family) and sets off alone on a 3,000 mile ride from Tabriz to Shiraz, to try to uncover the heart of this most complex and incongruous country. Along the way, she meets carpet sellers and drug addicts, war veterans and housewives, doctors and teachers – people living ordinary lives under the rule of an extraordinarily strict Islamic government.
Revolutionary Ride is the story of a people and a country. Religious and hedonistic, practical and poetic, modern and rooted in tradition – and with a wild sense of humour and appreciation of beauty despite the comparative lack of freedom – this is real contemporary Iran.
‘Within a few pages I’d recognised a kindred spirit’ – Dervla Murphy, author of Full Tilt
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Reviews
Within a few pages I'd recognised a kindred spirit. Tourist-free solo travelling, lo-fi equipment including real maps instead of gadgets, a satisfying blend of action, thought and feeling, well-timed references to or quotes from one of my own heroines since I was a teenager. That central theme - the distinction between government and people - is not easy to maintain but it seemed to me Lois hit the right note every time.
This is a proper travelogue - a joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale.
An excellent, fascinating read.
Pryce writes as she acts, with an easy ebullience, and this makes interesting things happen to her. Revolutionary Ride is likeable because she admits her ignorance and follows her nose.
If you still need to know why the motorcycle is a magical device for revealing the truth about this wonderful, endangered world, read Lois Pryce's sometimes frightening, sometimes hilarious, always warm-hearted testament. That will do it for you. Thank you Lois, so much.
Lois Pryce writes with all the exuberance and verve with which she dons her helmet and takes to the road.
Lois Pryce's motorbike takes her into corners of modern Iranian life that are full of the unexpected.
The story of an epic journey that takes the myths and unravels them first hand.
'A warm, funny account of a road trip in contemporary Iran. It's had my whole family howling with laughter and shedding a few tears'
A thrilling blend of action and perception, a gripping yarn that lifts the veil on one of the world's most misunderstood countries.
Funny, insightful and eye-opening, this adventure breaks down misconceptions and reveals a country of wonder and warmth.