A beautifully written novel based on the life of the poet Rumi. This is a gripping fictional account of the life of Jalludin al-Rumi the most well known of the Sufi mystics. His poems on love are frequently quoted and in the last few years Andrew Harvey made a new translation of his poems and in the US Deepak Chopra has published a selection of Rumi's love poetry. There is no definitive biography of Rumi, but the facts of his life are generally agreed upon. Nigel Watts has taken these facts and written a powerful account of this great poet's life, particularly focusing on his extraordinary encounter with the legendary Sufi figure -- Shams al Tabriz. Shams as an ascetic who was reputed to be able to perform miraculouis feats. Rumi never recovered from the impact of meeting 'The Sun' of Tabriz. Rumi had met his beloved not in sexual but in spiritual terms and the love that her felt was completely consuming and allowed him to experience a profound mystical state of ecstasy . But this love exacted a price and Rumi experienced extreme despair when parted from his beloved by the power of public opinion. This is the story of the power and pain of a love that transcended the ordinary love of two people.