The Author

Born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in 1958. Bernard spent his early years in Dublin before moving to France in 1986 to work with the Irish Tourist Board. He then set up his own IT company in Paris and later became a travel consultant.

He’s married to Roland Bonello since 2014. He is part owner of the famous gay bar in Paris the Cox.

He divides his time between Paris, Dublin, where his 98-year-old father still lives and Banyuls sur Mer, in the south of France, where he, Roland and his Labrador Ulysses spend most of their holidays.

It was Bernard’s fifth time in Iran when he was arrested with an Iranian friend in the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran. At first, he was kept in solitary confinement with interrogations three or four times a day. It was there that he decided to tell this story. He has never written a book before.

Bernard enjoys traveling, walking, running, sailing, eating, listening to music, reading and looking at his olive trees.

He missed his first harvest because he was locked up but he’s keeping a close eye on the next one.