Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    On Two Feet and Wings
    On Two Feet and Wings
    On Two Feet and Wings
    Audiobook4 hours

    On Two Feet and Wings

    Written by Abbas Kazerooni

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    He is in a foreign country, he is alone, and he is just a boy...Abbas Kazerooni is not yet ten, but he’s suddenly forced to leave his parents, his friends—his entire world—and flee Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war is at its bloodiest, and the Ayatollahs who rule Iran have reduced the recruitment age for the army. If Abbas doesn’t escape, it’s almost certain that he will be drafted and die fighting for a regime that has stripped his family of all they have.

    On his own in the strange, often frightening city of Istanbul, Abbas grows up fast—with little more than his wits to guide him. He must conquer difficult things: how to live on his own, how to navigate a foreign city and culture when he doesn’t speak the language, and, most importantly, how to judge who is a friend and who is an enemy. Facing the unexpected as well as the everyday challenges of life on his own, Abbas walks a tightrope of survival—yearning to please the demanding father he has left behind, yet relishing his new found independence.

    His quick thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and the kindness of strangers allow him to make the best of his dire situation in surprising ways. Does he have what it takes to not only survive against these challenging odds but achieve his parents’ ultimate dream for him: a visa to England, and the safety it represents?

    This compelling true story of one young boy’s courage provides a powerful child’s-eye view of war, political tumult, and survival.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 21, 2014
    ISBN9781491529775
    On Two Feet and Wings
    Author

    Abbas Kazerooni

    Abbas Kazerooni is a lawyer in California. He is also a professional actor, writer, and producer. Shows he has acted in include Sleuth on the London stage (lead role), the BBC’s The Land of the Green Ginger (lead role), HBO’s The Hamburg Cell, and the independent feature film Universal Senses. On Two Feet and Wings is his first book.

    Related to On Two Feet and Wings

    Related audiobooks

    YA Biography & Autobiography For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      'A Woman Of No Importance' Finally Gets Her Due

      Apr 18, 2019

      Virginia Hall was an American spy who worked for Britain and the U.S. and played a key role in undermining the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. Her story was rarely told — until now.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      Death On The Limpopo

      Sep 16, 2019

      Death On The Limpopo
      5 min read

    • Article

      Happy Endings

      Sep 1, 2023

      Happy Endings
      5 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      Count Your Chickens

      Mar 5, 2018

      Count Your Chickens
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Workbench

      Dec 23, 2020

      The Workbench
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone

      Jan 7, 2020

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lies I Tell My Father

      Feb 10, 2024

      “How’s your job at the newspaper?” my father asks me. He is sitting on a couch, a plush throw blanket spread across his legs. “The newspaper’s fine,” I lie. I lie because it is simple. I lie because it is quick. I lie because it is easier than trying

      10 min read

    • Article

      Hauntings

      Jul 5, 2023

      Hauntings
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Show Boy

      Oct 9, 2019

      The Show Boy
      9 min read

    • Article

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Nuclear

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nuclear
      7 min read

    • Article

      What the Tornado Gave Us

      May 1, 2022

      OF ALL THAT I lost when we moved to America, my personality is what I missed most. Not lost in a forever kind of way, perhaps just misplaced, because after I had a friend, it began to show up again. In Mexico, I knew the language well enough to easil

      3 min read

    • Article

      In the Grass

      Jun 3, 2019

      In the Grass
      23 min read

    • Article

      Always Someone Leaving

      Jul 6, 2023

      Always Someone Leaving
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stuck In The Middle

      Jan 27, 2023

      Stuck In The Middle
      4 min read

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      Choosing the Flowers

      Oct 10, 2022

      Choosing the Flowers
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Rebellion

      Oct 2, 2023

      The Rebellion
      23 min read

    • Article

      Process Jason Phu

      May 22, 2019

      Sometimes I get asked how I make my work. I’m not so sure, but I think the past is somehow important. Not only how you lived it, but how you remember it. I grew up in Croydon Park, a nice and safe and boring suburb, a place to raise a family of kids

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for On Two Feet and Wings

    3.5/5

    23 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The author did a great job capturing the viewpoint of his younger self and provided a magnificent narration as well. So glad that this audiobook was one of the SYNC offerings as I probably would never have heard of it otherwise.
    • 3/5
      YA audio sync summer program work about the author's immigrant experience when parents sent him out of Iran at the age of 9. He was in Turkey until he could get his Visa. The story is good but I could have used more information. What was happening to his parents while he was gone. What happened after. He dedicates this work to his mother's memory. It's a great story. He was lucky that so many people did things to help him and he is lucky that he was so mature for his age.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this novel from the Audiobook Sync books from this past summer. It’s a memoir of Abbas (read by the author) who has to leave Iran without his parents and spend months in Istanbul alone.Before the 1980s, Abbas’ family was wealthy, but life changes when the politics changes in 1979. Now children are recruited to the army as early as ages 10 and 11. Abbas’ father won’t be allowed out of Iran, but he hopes Abbas can leave. Abbas’ mother is supposed to leave as well. Unfortunately, the government only allows Abbas to leave. He ends up in Istanbul, Turkey completely alone. A kind and honest taxi driver gets him to an Iranian friendly hotel where the owner treats Abbas well.Abbas’ intelligence helps him. His father had taught both Abbas and Abbas’ mother what to do in Turkey as far as exchanging money and getting a visa to get to England. Abbas, alone, is able to navigate due to this knowledge and his own smarts. He’s a very likeable kid. The question throughout the memoir is whether he will get his visa to get to England. While waiting, he has a scary and lonely existence, as he is alone at the age of ten in a very large city where he doesn’t speak the language! You’ll be impressed with what he is able to accomplish.I liked Abbas and am thankful that I don’t live in such a volatile area. I would have liked to have known what happened to many of the people in the book, including his parents, in the years after.
    • 3/5
      So...I get that this is a memoir and all, but even still, shouldn't there be...conflict of some kind? Everyone is nice to him. Everyone helps hims. No one swindles him. Aside from a little scuffle that was over within a sentence nothing really happens. Boy goes to Turkey. Makes friends with everyone. Gets a couple side jobs. Goes to Britain. Ta-da?Very weak.