Middle Eastern Fiction

This fresh prose translation of 105 short teaching stories by Rumi, which form the core of the six-volume Masnavi, explores the hidden spiritual aspects of everyday experience. Rumi transforms the seemingly mundane events of daily life into profound Sufi teaching moments. These prose gems open the mystical portal to the world of the ancient mystic.

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been.

A Mouth Full of Salt uncovers a country on the brink of seismic change as its women decide for themselves which traditions are fit for purpose–and which prophecies it's time to rewrite.

From USA Today Bestselling Author, Uvi Poznansky, comes an epic historical fiction trilogy with a modern twist: Volume I: Rise to Power Here is the story of David as you have never heard it before: from the king himself, telling the unofficial version, the one he never allowed his court scribes to recount. Rooted in ancient lore, his is a surprisingly modern memoir. Volume II: A Peek at Bathsheba The most torrid tale of passion ever told: David's forbidden love for Bathsheba, and his attempt to cover up the scandal. Will he muster the strength needed to protect her and save their son from ...

Mahmoud’s passion for his wife, Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she’s ever known. But their happy, middle-class world implodes when their country is engulfed in war and the Taliban rises to power. Mahmoud, a civil engineer, becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered. Forced to flee Kabul with her three children, Fereiba must find a way to cross Europe and reach her sister’s family in England. With forged papers and help from kind strangers they meet along the way, Fereiba make a dangerous crossing into Iran under cover of darkness.

Kurdish Syria, 2014. Karin longs to fight for her freedom. Except she’s forced to stay home while her brother heads into battle and ISIS advances. But when death and destruction arrive at the city gates, Karin shoulders her rifle and prepares to engage. Roza aches for the peaceful life of a wife and mother. But when she loses her husband in mortar fire, her grief drives her into the female militia to defend her family. Her rage only grows when she discovers her friend's sister has been captured by ISIS. Fighting side-by-side with their fellow sisters, Karin and Roza launch a daring and ...

FBI agent Nicholas Drummond and his partner, Mike Caine, are deep into an investigation of COE - Celebrants of the Earth - a violent group known for widespread bombings of power grids and oil refineries across the country. While investigating a tip from a civilian who's overheard about a possible bombing plot, the Bayway Refinery in New Jersey explodes. Nicholas and Mike race to the scene and barely escape being killed by a secondary device.

From USA Today Bestselling Author, Uvi Poznansky, comes a breathtaking historical fiction novel with a modern twist: The most torrid tale of passion ever told: David's forbidden love for Bathsheba, and his attempt to cover up the scandal. Will he muster the strength needed to protect her and save their son from danger? This is volume II of the trilogy The David Chronicles, told candidly by the king himself. David uses modern language, indicating that this is no fairytale. Rather, it is a story that is happening here and now. Listen to his voice as he undergoes a profound change, realizing ...

Ventura, una hermosa joven turca, debe viajar a México para casarse con Lázaro según la decisión de su familia. Con apenas un baúl de pertenencias y la ilusión de un futuro desconocido, se embarca en una travesía que la llevará a una nueva vida lejos de su tierra natal. A través de su llegada, sus matrimonios, la crianza de sus hijos, la viudez y su regreso a Turquía, Ventura vive cada etapa con profunda intensidad, aderezando sus días con los aromas, sabores, ritmos y proverbios de su origen.

The Last Prophet is a novel based on the extraordinary life of the prophet Muhammad, one-time shepherd and outcast revolutionary. This desert master’s discipline and principles would later become the basis for Islam, which today claims two billion followers.

The new, impeccable translation and adaptation of the Epic of Persian Kings by Ahmad Sadri brought to life a host of heroic characters and wove their adventures into a thrilling story spanning thousands of years. Containing four grand tragedies and four beautiful love stories, the audiobook is currently going into its fifth edition. It has been a smashing success. We are delighted to present a 12-hour audio experience of this text (performed by the award-winning voice actor, Marc Thompson) against the backdrop of evocative sound design and music editing of Hamid Rahmanian the creator of the Shahnameh project.

Almustafa, the chosen and beloved, must leave the port of Orphalese upon the ship he has waited upon for 12 years. As he descends to the waterfront, the people of Orphalese gather to question him and hear his wisdom on important topics of their daily lives. Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece is a series of enlightening, philosophical answers to those questions. The inspirational and spiritual words of The Prophet, written in an almost Biblical, poetic style, reveal deep insights into each of the subjects in question.

A rich and varied collection of contemporary short stories, extracts from novels, and poetry that will go a long way toward informing the English-speaking world of the latest developments in Iranian literature. This sampling - or to use the Farsi term golchine, a bouquet - provides a window onto an important but sorely neglected segment of world culture. We hope it will also serve to awaken further interest in the work and in translations of Iranian novelists and poets.

The prophet Al Mustafa has lived in the city of Orphalese for 12 years and is about to board a ship that will carry him home. He is stopped by a group of people with whom he discusses topics such as life and the human condition. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Almustafa, the prophet of Orphalese, awakes to the fulfillment of his 12-year wish: the arrival of his ship to take him home. Suddenly, he and the rest of the inhabitants are faced with his imminent departure. With the assistance of the seer Almitra, he is first set upon an unexpected course of disclosing his perspectives on life to the inhabitants of Orphalese; a process that holds new insights and realizations even for Almustafa, himself.

Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer, is a compelling collection of short stories from 15 young writers in Gaza, members of a generation that has suffered immensely under Israel's siege and blockade. Their experiences, especially during and following Israel's 2008-2009 offensive known as Operation Cast Lead, have fundamentally impacted their lives and their writing.

"A sweeping, breathless romance" and "deliciously twisty" ~Jennifer deBie of Rosie's Book Review Team General Bakr, a half-human djinn warrior, has always felt like an outsider in the magical land of Qaf. Torn from his first love by war, he yearns to feel her touch—to hear her voice and kiss her lips. But the only reason he survived the searing scar across his torso was because a lilith demon made him her pet, and she doesn't like to share. Back at home in the magical kingdom of Shihala, Sheikha Sezan, a djinn princess, is just starting her war. Determined to be more than a marriage token...

The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, Sufi teachings, and classical writings as a basic course of Sufi study. The author begins with the outward aspects of the teaching most likely to puzzle the student coming fresh to the subject. He considers various attitudes to Sufi ideas and evidence of their absorption into medieval Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish mysticism, and modern philosophical teachings.

What stories await in the Baghdad & Beyond Gallery of the Chaldean Museum? Step into the bustling streets of Baghdad and the cities of Iraq, where ancient traditions meet modern life. A group of sixth graders explores vivid displays of golden souks, the Tigris River winding through the city, and the timeless melodies of an oud. They encounter scenes of Chaldean artisans crafting intricate designs, families gathering for meals, and caravans journeying across the desert, connecting east and west through trade and culture. As they wander through the exhibits, the students uncover the ...

The start of the Arab spring, inspires Leila to summon enough courage and run away from her husband, believing that in Tahrir Square she will free herself from the shackles of her abusive marriage. An illegitimate child of an illiterate maid and a well-off doctor, Leila’s dream is to find her father, a man she only knows from an old yellowed photograph. Instead, she spends twenty-five years in a loveless marriage. After she escapes her husband, she embarks on an adventure which takes her from joining a revolution, to the slums of Cairo where she gets involved with a fundamentalist sect. ...