Today we travel with Maxine Rose Schur to Iran, where she finds unexpected warmth, comfort -- and trust -- through a silent twilight ritual with a stranger.

Maxine is an award-winning children’s book author and travel essayist, whose essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Christian Science Monitor. Her memoir, Places in Time, was named the 2006 Best Travel Book of the Year by the North American Travel Journalists Association and was awarded a Gold Lowell Thomas award. The book will be reprinted in 2022 by Adelaide Books.

First appeared in the Best Women’s Travel Writing Volume 11