By Ben Orcutt -- Daily Staff Writer

FRONT ROYAL — Susan Allaie is on a mission to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show to tell the world about a book she is writing about her family's oppressed life in Iran.

Allaie, 43, was inspired to write her book after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. It focuses on her struggles after her ex-husband kidnapped their two children while on vacation at Disney World and took them to Iran in 1996.

Her oldest son, Ali Rohani, 20, returned to the United States in 2003, and a year later his younger brother, Arash Rohani, 17, joined him. The boys made it to America and were spared conscription into the Iranian military at age 16.

The family faced another crisis in 2005, when Allaie had to donate a portion of her liver to Ali. Both sons are graduates of Warren County High School and attend Lord Fairfax Community College.

Allaie, who plans to pursue a nursing career, said it was difficult for her to work on the book while her sons were still in Iran.

"I get so emotional because they are not here yet," she said. "I have to relive it in order to write it."

Allaie has written more than 100 pages and plans to include documents and photos from occasions such as her demonstration in front of the White House. She even has a letter from President George W. Bush, who responded to her on March 30, 2001, thanking her for her concerns about uniting children with their parents.

"I am confident that we, as a Nation, can put our differences aside and work together in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation to do what is in the best interest of all our citizens," Bush says in his letter to Allaie.

The book's working title is, "when I said 'NO' to gods."

When Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi went into exile in 1979, his government was replaced by the extremist Islamic rule of Ayatollah Khomeini.

"These are the little people who have called themselves gods," Allaie said of the fundamentalist regime that rules Iran. Her book title, she said, is her way of saying, "You go to hell. I'm not saying 'Yes' to you."

As a teenager in Iran, Allaie witnessed her father being shot by government men. He survived and is now living in Front Royal with her mother. Allaie has been in the U.S. for about 20 years.

Attending conferences on parental kidnapping is what kept her going after her children were taken.

"This was my only hope that I had," she said. Like many other parents whose children have been kidnapped and taken out of the country by their non-custodial parent, Allaie has worked on an effort to pass what is known as Vivian's Law to assist states in recovering such children.

Though she does not miss the current Iranian culture that revolves around fundamentalist Islam, Allaie's two sons say there are elements of their past that they miss, especially family life.

"The parties are certainly way better than here," Arash said, noting that special occasions there are not about alcohol but family fun.

"America, I think, is a good place to succeed from education and all the talents you have," Ali added. "Once you do that, you want to go somewhere that has a culture [you] enjoy better."

Allaie said local residents were the ones who helped the family the most when Ali had his liver transplant, and that her best friends live in Front Royal.

For inspiration, Allaie has drawn upon remarks made by Winfrey when the talk show host played the part of an ex-slave in the movie, "Beloved," based on Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

"I need to say what I have to say," Allaie said. "It's like what she talked about slavery here."

Allaie said in Iran, women especially are slaves to the government.

"They kill in the name of Islam right now," she said. "A boy and a girl cannot walk in the street hand in hand."

Ali says he wants to be the first to read his mom's book when it comes out.

Arash believes it will be a hit.

"It's going to brighten a lot of people's eyes," he said.

"My main thing is I find a publisher and get on Oprah's show," Allaie added.

Allaie's Web site, childrenofmine.org, features poetry and recounts her family's struggle.

* Contact Ben Orcutt at borcutt@nvdaily.com