Named a Must-Read by Flavorwire

Short listed, Lionel Gelber Prize, 2017

Short listed, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, 2017

“Could not be more timely.... Indelibly portrays the journalists, dissidents, reformers and student activists who have fought bravely for their ideals in a country where voicing one’s beliefs has often led to imprisonment, torture and death.... Secor’s portraits create an impressionistic montage of Iranian life during the last 37 years, which is hugely valuable in helping us understand Iran’s complex back story.... They provide sharp, pinhole windows into a country that for many years has seemed, in her words, like 'a black box whose contents were all but unknowable.'" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

“A deeply moving, intimate collection of personal stories...[Secor gives], through extensive interviews with Iranians in the country and in exile, a first-rate, highly readable intellectual history.... Ms. Secor is at her very best when she relays the bravery and despair of dissidents, in particular the agony of women who have thrown themselves into the fight.... Ms. Secor last visited Iran in 2012. We can hope that she isn’t denied a visa in the future for her truth-telling. If she is, Children of Paradise was worth the price.” (Wall Street Journal)

“Democracy is always a work in progress. This point is made crystal clear in journalist Laura Secor’s exhaustively researched book...an insightful view of the evolving intellectual character of a nation that has been largely hidden from us for forty years.... A stellar example of investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction.” (San Francisco Chronicle)