On the Enemy's Side is a journey into a real historical drama of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, told through a prison cell. A breath-taking story about love and courage, it uncovers the world of Iran's ethnic and political diversity in the most intimate way. More crucially, the book is about finding an inner compass that leads through chaos, destruction and violence. With each sentence, one learns to be more historically aware, tolerant, courageous and loving. Heartbroken, a reader survives and thrives together with its protagonists, two outcasts who found themselves in the heart and hell of political turmoil and zeal, how to escape their own prejudices and hatred, starting a different kind of revolution.
Botakoz Kassymbekova, historian and author of Despite Cultures
In his powerful debut, On the Enemy's Side, Hamour Baika tells a necessary love story: Set against the backdrop of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980s Iran, he explores the complicated moral territory of a same-sex love between a political prisoner and interrogator. It's necessary because it's a story rarely told about gay men, especially in the Middle East during this time period. It's necessary because it's told with such urgency, beauty, and sensitivity. Baika layers in a hidden-and forbidden-history of gay men, giving those men a voice.
John Copenhaver, award-winning author of Dodging and Burning
