The Uncaged Sky: My 804 days in an Iranian prison by Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year for Non Fiction
Shortlisted for the Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Non-fiction 2023
The sky above our heads was uncaged and unlike us, free.
The extraordinary true story of Kylie Moore-Gilberts fight to survive 804 days imprisoned in Iran.
On September 12, 2018 British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested at Tehran Airport by Irans feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Convicted of espionage in a shadowy trial presided over by Irans most notorious judge, Dr Moore-Gilbert was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Incarcerated in Tehrans Evin and Qarchak prisons for 804 days, this is the full and gripping account of her harrowing ordeal. Held in a filthy solitary confinement cell for months, and subjected to relentless interrogation, Kylie was pushed to the limits of her endurance by extreme physical and psychological deprivation.
Kylies only lifeline was the covert friendships she made with other prisoners inside the Revolutionary Guards maximum-security compound where she had been disappeared, communicating in great danger through the air vents between cells, and by hiding secret letters inhava khori, the narrow outdoor balcony where she was led, blindfolded, for a solitary hour each day.
Cut off from the outside world, Kylie realised she alone had the power to change the dynamics of her incarceration. To survive, she began to fight back, adopting a strategy of resistance with her captors. Multiple hunger strikes, letters smuggled to the media, co-ordinated protests with other prisoners and a daring escape attempt led to her transfer to the isolated desert prison, Qarchak, to live among convicted criminals.
On November 25, 2020, after more than two years of struggle, Kylie was finally released in a high stakes three-nation prisoner swap deal orchestrated by the Australian government, laying bare the complex game of global politics in which she had become a valuable pawn.
Written with extraordinary insight and vivid immediacy, The Uncaged Sky is Kylie Moore-Gilberts remarkable story of courage and resilience, and a powerful meditation on hope, solidarity and what it means to be free.
'immensely readable' The Sydney Morning Herald
'reads like an espionage thriller' The Australian
'stunning' Osher Gunsberg
'brilliant Mia Freedman
'utterly engrossing' Australian Book Review
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is one pretty remarkable woman Sarah Abo
The Uncaged Skyis a brilliant and powerful book. Ann Cunningham, Booktopia
a remarkable story of courage The Canberra Times
Shortlisted for the Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Non-fiction 2023
The sky above our heads was uncaged and unlike us, free.
The extraordinary true story of Kylie Moore-Gilberts fight to survive 804 days imprisoned in Iran.
On September 12, 2018 British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested at Tehran Airport by Irans feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Convicted of espionage in a shadowy trial presided over by Irans most notorious judge, Dr Moore-Gilbert was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Incarcerated in Tehrans Evin and Qarchak prisons for 804 days, this is the full and gripping account of her harrowing ordeal. Held in a filthy solitary confinement cell for months, and subjected to relentless interrogation, Kylie was pushed to the limits of her endurance by extreme physical and psychological deprivation.
Kylies only lifeline was the covert friendships she made with other prisoners inside the Revolutionary Guards maximum-security compound where she had been disappeared, communicating in great danger through the air vents between cells, and by hiding secret letters inhava khori, the narrow outdoor balcony where she was led, blindfolded, for a solitary hour each day.
Cut off from the outside world, Kylie realised she alone had the power to change the dynamics of her incarceration. To survive, she began to fight back, adopting a strategy of resistance with her captors. Multiple hunger strikes, letters smuggled to the media, co-ordinated protests with other prisoners and a daring escape attempt led to her transfer to the isolated desert prison, Qarchak, to live among convicted criminals.
On November 25, 2020, after more than two years of struggle, Kylie was finally released in a high stakes three-nation prisoner swap deal orchestrated by the Australian government, laying bare the complex game of global politics in which she had become a valuable pawn.
Written with extraordinary insight and vivid immediacy, The Uncaged Sky is Kylie Moore-Gilberts remarkable story of courage and resilience, and a powerful meditation on hope, solidarity and what it means to be free.
'immensely readable' The Sydney Morning Herald
'reads like an espionage thriller' The Australian
'stunning' Osher Gunsberg
'brilliant Mia Freedman
'utterly engrossing' Australian Book Review
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is one pretty remarkable woman Sarah Abo
There are no heroes and villains inThe Uncaged Skyonly human beings. The depth of Moore-Gilberts empathy for the human condition is extraordinary [She] sees deeply into the complexity of the human tragedy, and she writes of it with the compelling clarity of genius. Alex Miller, author ofA Brief Affair
Moments in her memoirThe Uncaged Skywill leave readers breathless. The sheer terror, uncertainty and gnawing dread of a brutal regime closing in all around ... Powerfully and artfully written, the book has moments of joy shining through: the loving friendships made inside prison; the exhilaration of escaping to that uncaged sky, standing on the prison roof; and the strength Moore-Gilbert found to defy her captors amid the ceaseless cruelty of her incarceration.Ben Doherty, The GuardianThe Uncaged Skyis a brilliant and powerful book. Ann Cunningham, Booktopia
a remarkable story of courage The Canberra Times