“Rereading this book after so many years brings me straight back to Iran, to my years as a teenager, my time as a young wife, a mother, and, of course, my time as the first crowned empress of Iran. At the time I wrote my memoir, I had no idea what was to come. I believed in family and duty, in goodness and integrity. I was committed to the rights of women and children, and I devoted myself to the betterment of my country. I did not want to lose sight of Iran’s glorious history, so revered by the entire world, but I wanted my compatriots to benefit from modernity, education, health, and industrialization as well. I look back on my energy and optimism, that of a much younger woman, and although so much has happened to me and to Iran since my values and aspirations have stayed the same. My fate was, and will always be, tied to that of my country.”