The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

Description

In-this-lyrical,-exuberant-follow-up-to-her-2007-novel,-The-Bastard-of-Istanbul,-acclaimed-Turkish-author-Elif-Shafak-unfolds-two-tantalizing-parallel-narratives—one-contemporary-and-the-other-set-in-the-thirteenth-century,-when-Rumi-encountered-his-spiritual-mentor,-the-whirling-dervish-known-as-Shams-of-Tabriz—that-together-incarnate-the-poet’s-timeless-message-of-love.Ella-Rubenstein-is-forty-years-old-and-unhappily-married-when-she-takes-a-job-as-a-reader-for-a-literary-agent.-Her-first-assignment-is-to-read-and-report-on-Sweet-Blasphemy,-a-novel-written-by-a-man-named-Aziz-Zahara.-Ella-is-mesmerized-by-his-tale-of-Shams’s-search-for-Rumi-and-the-dervish’s-role-in-transforming-the-successful-but-unhappy-cleric-into-a-committed-mystic,-passionate-poet,-and-advocate-of-love.-She-is-also-taken-with-Shams’s-lessons,-or-rules,-that-offer-insight-into-an-ancient-philosophy-based-on-the-unity-of-all-people-and-religions,-and-the-presence-of-love-in-each-and-every-one-of-us.-As-she-reads-on,-she-realizes-that-Rumi’s-story-mir­rors-her-own-and-that-Zahara—like-Shams—has-come-to-set-her-free.