Profile: Jonathan Rush

About This Author

The son of a British Army officer, Jonathan Rush grew up in Germany, England, Cyprus, and Australia. The wanderlust he inherited from his parents led him to live and work in Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Middle East and Australia. He had long been intrigued by the story of his mother's Scottish-Australian family. After his mother died in 2013, aged 101, he was given a copy of the family tales, as remembered by her aunt, Mary Annie MacKay, which form the basis of the true story embedded in 'This land is ours'. Mary Annie's portrait as a young girl appears on the book's front cover. In 1978 he took up a job in Tehran where he lived, together with his new wife, through the Iranian revolution . While in Iran they witnessed, at first hand, street and rooftop fighting, bombings, ethnic tension, and demonstrations by over a million people. They travelled widely within the country and Jonathan's knowledge of Iran, its people and ethnic diversity informs much of his first book, My Persian Girl. Jonathan and his teacher wife live near London, England. After a career in the international construction industry and public relations, he is now active in local politics. They have three grown-up married children and two grandchildren.