The Forty Rules of Love

Ella Rubenstein, a forty-year-old unhappy wife, accepts a position as a literary agent's reader. Her first task is to read the book Sweet Blasphemy by Aziz Zahara and write a report on it. His story of Shams's quest for Rumi and the dervish's influence in converting the prosperous but unhappy clergyman into a devoted mystic, fervent poet, and champion of love enthralls Ella. She is also captivated by Shams's teachings, or rules, which provide understanding of an antiquated ideology predicated on the love that resides in each and every one of us and the oneness of all people and faiths. As she continues reading, she understands that Zahara, like Shams, has come to set her free and that Rumi's narrative mirrors her own.

Celebrated Turkish author Elif Shafak presents two enticing parallel narratives in this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul: one set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi met his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz, and both of them embody the poet's timeless message of love.