In Whom We Trust: by Hamid Varzi (1969)

‘In Whom We Trust’ traces the lives of three Cambridge University graduates—one American, one English, and one Iranian—whose intimate friendship is severely tested over the years by conflicting career paths in a rapidly modernising world, where battle lines are often as blurred as the governmental policies that put them there. This remarkable story is a thrilling mixture of political and religious intrigue set against a backdrop of historical events from the 1950s to the present. It is a gritty, hard-hitting novel that retains a torrid pace, whether embracing philosophy, friendship or espionage, and encapsulates the timeless struggle between patriotic duty and individual conscience.