Yes, this did happen.

The Sassanid empire was eager to recruit both Roman nobles and craftsmen, by hook or by crook. During the reign of Shapur I (AD 240 - AD 270), Roman praetorian guards and officers from Emperor Valerian's defeated army were deported into Persia, according to Sassanian inscriptions at Naqš-e Rostam. The Arabic Chronicle of Seert states that Shapur I settled the men in the ruined city of Gondēšāpūr, although no archaeological evidence has been found. This was probably the inspiration for the novel you are reading. In 6th century AD, Khusrow I deported the entire community of Antioch to a new city near Ctesiphon, unironically naming it Wēh Antīōk Khosrow ('better than Antioch, Khosrow built this'). Procopius reports that Khusrow I not only allowed new settlers to build traditional Roman public amenities, including thermae (bath spa) and a race course, but also specifically deported Roman musicians and charioteers to his new 'Antioch'. The presence of Romans in the Sassanid empire is why historians such as Shahbazi and Canepa identify Roman influence in both Sasanian architecture and art. The reverse was also true, though to a lesser extent. For propagandistic reasons, or to replenish depleted farm labour, Persian captives were resettled in Thrace by both Emperors Diocletian and Constantius II in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

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Sources:

A. Shapur Shahbazi, Erich Kettenhofen, John R. Perry, “DEPORTATIONS,” Encyclopædia Iranica, VII/3, pp. 297-312 http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/deportations

Procopius, History of the Wars, trans. by H. B. Dewing, 1914.

M. Canepa, The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran, 2009.

B. Dignas and E. Winter (edd.), Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals, 2007.