A decade ago, a Rick Steves episode on Iran inspired musician Sepehr Haddad to travel back to his homeland for the first time since the Iranian revolution. On that journey, Haddad was reminded of a story his grandmother had once told him about his grandfather - renowned composer Nasrosoltan Minbashian - who left Persia a century ago to study music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory during the final years of Czarist rule. There, he fell in love with a princess in the Russian royal family. Haddad documents his family history in "A Hundred Sweet Promises," a novel based on that true story. He spoke with The California Report ahead of a book talk at the University of California Washington Program.
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