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The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi
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The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi Paperback - 2011

by Elif Shafak

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The bestselling author of "The Bastard of Instanbul" returns with a lyrical, imaginative new novel about the famous Sufi mystic Rumi.

Summary

A mesmerizing tale of love-from the author of The Bastard of Istanbul

Elif Shafak, the most widely read female writer in Turkey, has earned a growing fan base all over the world with her bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul. In The Forty Rules of Love, her lyrical, imaginative new novel about the famous Sufi mystic Rumi, Shafak effortlessly blends East and West, past and present, to create a dramatic, compelling, and exuberant tale about how love works in the world. Shafak unfolds two parallel narratives-one set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz, and one contemporary, as an unhappy American housewife, inspired by Rumi's message of love, finds the courage to transform her life.

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From the publisher

In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick), incarnates Rumi'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 Zahara's tale of Shams of Tabriz'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.

The Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives--one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, Shams, the whirling dervish--that together explore the enduring power of Rumi's work.

Details

  • Title The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi
  • Author Elif Shafak
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 368
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books, New York
  • Publication date 2011-04-26
  • Features Bibliography
  • ISBN 9780143118527 / 0143118528
  • Weight 0.66 lbs (0.30 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 in (21.08 x 13.72 x 2.29 cm)
  • Age range 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Sex & Gender: Feminine
  • Category Fiction - General
  • Library of Congress subjects Housewives, Sufis
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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About the author

ELIF SHAFAK is an award-winning British-Turkish author of a dozen novels, including There Are Rivers in the Sky, The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her work has been translated into fifty-six languages. She holds a PhD in political science and has taught at universities in Turkey, the U.S. and the UK. She lives in London and is an honorary fellow at Oxford University.

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