A book, in which, an Iranian human rights lawyer and activist tells of her fight for reform inside Iran, and the devastating backlash she faced after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It is an illuminating depiction of life in Iran today as well as the account of the author's personal struggle to uphold her work and keep her family together.

Born in 1947, Shirin Ebadi trained in law, obtained a doctorate from Tehran University and served as a judge from March 1969 - the first woman ever to do so in Iran. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979 she, and other female judges, were dismissed from their posts and given clerical duties (in Ebadi's case, in the very court she had presided over). She resigned in protest and was, in effect, housebound for many years until finally, in 1992, she succeeded in obtaining a lawyer's license and setting up her own practice. She then represented various high-profile cases of political victims, journalists, child custody cases and others until she was forced to live in exile in London.