Escape

When the shah is thrown out of Iran, the nation’s turmoil becomes world headlines. Caught in this shifting world of fanaticism, ambition, duplicity, heartbreak, and violent death are the foreign helicopter pilots who have been servicing the oil fields up and down the country. Their one objective is to make a bold, concerted escape to safety across the Gulf.

James Clavell told the full story of the three weeks it took them to achieve this in his hugely popular best seller Whirlwind. Here he has taken out a single poignant thread from that epic narrative. The result is the moving and tender love story of Erikki, the blond Finnish pilot, and his beautiful high-born Iranian wife, Azadeh.