The Forty Rules of Love

Outline

The Forty Rules of Love (2009) weaves together two stories set centuries apart. In the present day, Ella, a woman in Massachusetts, reads a novel about the thirteenth-century poet Rumi and his spiritual companion Shams of Tabriz, whose forty rules of love transform both their lives. Elif Shafak’s novel explores faith, spiritual love, friendship, and the search for meaning.

• The novel weaves together two stories set centuries apart, one in the thirteenth century and one in the present day.
• Ella, a woman in Massachusetts, reads a novel about the poet Rumi and his spiritual companion Shams of Tabriz.
• Shams of Tabriz shares forty rules of love that transform the lives of both Rumi and Shams.
• Shafak explores faith, spiritual love, friendship and the search for meaning through these two connected stories.
• Reading about another person's spiritual journey can prompt a reader to reflect on their own life and what gives it purpose.

Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist and essayist whose books have been translated into more than fifty languages. Her other novels include 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World and The Island of Missing Trees.