Love is the water of life. Lovers are the fire of the soul. The whole universe begins to spin differently when fire falls in love with water.
The 13th century. In a small town of Konya—a town where, from the west, the Crusaders did not reach after sacking Constantinople, and where, from the east, the hordes of Genghis Khan did not reach—“several truly believing” people hire an assassin nicknamed “Jackal’s Head” to eliminate Shams Tabrizi, a wandering dervish who preaches “forty rules of the religion of love.” Because it’s known: the more a person talks about love, the stronger they are hated…
Modern times. The USA. Ella Rubinstein, working at a literary agency, receives a manuscript for review—“Sweet Blasphemy”—whose action takes place in the 13th century. The novel captures Ella so completely that she begins to suspect that the author, in some incomprehensible way, was inspired by the character of Shams from Tabriz. And then love for the book’s author bursts into her heart, completely overturning her familiar, so dear life…