Thirty Seconds of Silence is the story of 170 years of injustice and discrimination against the Baha'i Faith, the largest religious minority in Iran. In this vivid and emotional first person memoir, Fereshteh starts out as a young girl living a happy life with her family, despite the rampant discrimination, persecution, and oppression that surrounds them for their beliefs.

One day her father is warned that the town's Muslim clergy are urging people to kill her family for disobeying Sharia Law, under which the Baha'i Faith is illegal. A mob attacks, but her mother faces them and gives a powerful speech, shaming them into regret. For young Fereshteh, this is her life's turning point.

The family escapes to Shiraz, struggling to save their lives as the country erupts in revolution, experiencing homelessness, sickness, trauma, poverty, and death, until finally fleeing to the United States.