Traces the parallel stories of a present day Massachusetts, unhappily married professional reader, Ella Rubinstein's inspiration of the story of Shams of Tabriz, and her own transformation, and, the 13th-century transformation of a successful but unhappy cleric, Rumi, into a mystic and poet. Shafik blends the East and the West, past and present, and presents an account of how love works in the world.
