“There was once a Thief who made his living by stealing from pilgrims along the road between Mecca and Medina. He was a Bedouin who had been born among the dunes and had never known a father. The priests too were alien to him and he cared nothing for the Prophet or his laws. Since he had been raised by several mothers who had all died before he learned the art of picking pockets, he had received little love and no schooling. But he had always been free.”
Those are the opening lines of Bahiyyih’s first novel. Finally, finally got around to reading it! Few stories have the power to rope me in like this one. It has a kind of mystical lyricism and reads almost like poetry, weaving together the dramas of nine distinct characters whose lives converge and find meaning as each has their turn coming across a simple saddlebag with mysteriously potent contents.
Click on the image for a lovely review of Bahiyyih’s first novel.
