A Review of the Book the Autumn Arrived

Compiled by: Razia Ebrahimi
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2023-5-18

The book "Autumn Arrived" is a romantic narrative of the life of a couple in the sixties, written by Golestan Jafarian in 13 chapters. In this book, Fakhr al-Sadat Mousavi, the wife of Martyr Ahmed Yousefi, tells her memories.

  Marryr Ahmad Yousefi was born in 1956. Following the issuance of Imam Khomeini's decree on the formation of a twenty million army, representatives from each mosque were introduced to participate in the briefing. Ahmad was responsible for managing the meeting and speaking. One of the participants in this meeting was Mrs. Fakhr al-Sadat Mousavi, and this meeting and subsequent collaborations provided the basis for their acquaintance and marriage. Ahmed was one of the founders of Zanjan District Corps and a member of the Corps Council. With the start of the Iran-Iraq war, he also worked as a military engineering officer of the Zanjan Corps in the front and in the war propaganda behind the front. Therefore, his responsibility required him to spend a little time on household and family matters, however, he did not hesitate to help the family whenever he got an opportunity. Martyr Yousefi used to solve problems with patience. This moral character caused him not to deviate from the path and continue on his path with the martyrdom of Rahman (his brother) and the loss of Hajar (his little daughter).

In the introduction of this work, Golestan Jafarian says, referring to the stages of writing the book: "The interview with Ms. Mousavi began in the winter of 2015. And in all the meetings Mrs. Mousavi shed tears. Every session, I thought that her tears would end after the next session, but it didn't!" the book Autumn Arrived is the result of thirty hours of interviews and at least twenty trips to Zanjan over four years.

After the introduction, the chapters of the book begin in the following order:

The first chapter of the book is related to the time before the revolution, where Fakhr al-Sadat tells explicit accounts of her childhood and life style in an army family. In this chapter, the issue of family migration from Mashhad to Zanjan due to father's job is mentioned. At the same time, Fakhr al-Sadat, under the influence of her brother Alaa, who was a revolutionary fighter, became fascinated by the Imam and the revolution. In the next chapter, Fakhr al-Sadat learns religious sciences and education during her teenage years and also participates in campaigns and marches. Continuing and in the third chapter, it reaches the period after the victory of the revolution in terms of time, during which Fakhr al-Sadat entered the Zanjan Corps and received military training there. He also plays a role as a coach. The turning point of the story happens in the fourth chapter; Sardar Yousefi, the military teacher of Fakhrel Sadat, who is 10 years older than him, proposes to him. Sardar Yousefi mentions in his proposal that "I will go and become a martyr because my aim and ideal is martyrdom". Nevertheless, Fakhr al-Sadat consciously accepts his proposal and Ahmed and Fakhr al-Sadat's life together begins with the marriage sermon read by Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. In the following chapters of the book, the memories and love letters of this couple are depicted and the audience shares their longings, affections and romances. This book is full of love, courage, sacrifice and conjugal friendship and can be a lesson for living romantically; As Jafarian mentioned in the introduction of the book: "Legendary loves are made like this, in the time of calamity, in the time of shame and even famine, Damascus becomes a year. Loves that can be told years and years later. Loves formed at a distance, not close. Loves that count the days to connect. In this oblivion of love, the lover needs more a friend to remain a man, a friend who does not exist, a helper that we have nothing but his moods and his empty place, and despite all this, he is as dear as he was. But when there is no lover, how can you keep love? This is the story of a lover who repeats love in the absence of a lover.

The final part of the book contains documents (5 letters) and 30 photos, with a corresponding memory under each photo. Indexes related to Mousavi and Yousefi family information and the information of the martyrs whose names are mentioned in the memoirs are given in the book. The book also has a list of announcements.

The book "Autumn Arrived" was published in the year 2021 by Surah Mehr Publishing House in 239 pages and 1250 copies with normal cover, ministerial cut and at a price of 60,000 Tomans.

It should be noted that the book Paizi Amed was nominated for the 15th Jalal Al Ahmad Literary Award in the documentary section.