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The Sufi Mysteries #1
The Lover
Zaytuna just wants to be left alone to her ascetic practices and nurse her dark view of the world. But when an impoverished servant girl she barely knows comes and begs her to bring some justice to the death of a local boy, she is forced to face the suffering of the most vulnerable in Baghdad and the emotional and mystical legacy of her mother, a famed ecstatic whose love for God eclipsed everything. The Lover is a historically sensitive mystery that introduces us to the world of medieval Baghdad and the lives of the great Sufi mystics, washerwomen, Hadith scholars, tavern owners, slaves, corpsewashers, police, and children indentured to serve in the homes of the wealthy. It asks what it means to have family when you have nearly no one left, what it takes to love and be loved by those who have stuck by you, and how one can come to love God and everything He’s done to you.
PRAISE FOR THE LOVER
The Lover #1 Amazon Bestseller
“Completely engrossing and richly atmospheric. Tenth century Baghdad comes alive through the eyes of a dazzling cast of characters.”
— Ausma Zehanat Khan, acclaimed author of The Getty-Khattak Mysteries
“Dust and cool water; ascetism and the bonds of love. In 10th century Baghdad, Zaytuna is torn between the mysticism of Sufi practice and her need for connection to the world – and the reality of survival day to day. When a child dies in a fall, she must try to understand why, bringing her into conflict with both powerful people and her own brother, and challenging, too, her own understanding of herself and her faith.”
— Marian Thorpe, Author of the Award Winning Empire's Legacy Series
“Too often, narratives of women in Islam are told from the vantage point of the privileged, the women of the wealthy classes … this novel turns that narrative on its head.”
— Safiyyah Surtee, AltMuslimah
Dr. Laury Silvers debut novel transports the reader to 10th century Baghdad, during the city's golden age when it was one of the largest and most diverse cities in the world. Her exquisite descriptions of the city and erudite knowledge of its historical denizens render real the people of Baghdad to the reader, whether pious mystics, cynical wine merchants, or frontier soldiers turned detectives. It's a great mystery and its faithful portrayal of Baghdad makes it a compelling read for anyone interested in the history of Islam and the Medieval Middle East.
--Sherwan Hindreen Ali, a native Baghdadi and graduate student in the Institute for Islamic Studies, McGill University
This is a novel that will both entertain readers and educate them about a wide range of subjects relating to intellectual, social and cultural history of the period in which it is set. It successfully weaves together fiction with meticulous historical research.
--Michael Mumisa, Cambridge Special Livingstone Scholar
With an informed, historical view of the spiritual atmosphere in medieval Baghdad, Laury Silvers has written an exciting mystery in lucid, gripping prose, bringing to life complex individuals of the past, moral agents both layered and conflicted.
--Cyrus Ali Zargar, Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor, UCF and Author of The Polished Mirror
PRAISE FOR THE LOVER
The Lover #1 Amazon Bestseller
“Completely engrossing and richly atmospheric. Tenth century Baghdad comes alive through the eyes of a dazzling cast of characters.”
— Ausma Zehanat Khan, acclaimed author of The Getty-Khattak Mysteries
“Dust and cool water; ascetism and the bonds of love. In 10th century Baghdad, Zaytuna is torn between the mysticism of Sufi practice and her need for connection to the world – and the reality of survival day to day. When a child dies in a fall, she must try to understand why, bringing her into conflict with both powerful people and her own brother, and challenging, too, her own understanding of herself and her faith.”
— Marian Thorpe, Author of the Award Winning Empire's Legacy Series
“Too often, narratives of women in Islam are told from the vantage point of the privileged, the women of the wealthy classes … this novel turns that narrative on its head.”
— Safiyyah Surtee, AltMuslimah
Dr. Laury Silvers debut novel transports the reader to 10th century Baghdad, during the city's golden age when it was one of the largest and most diverse cities in the world. Her exquisite descriptions of the city and erudite knowledge of its historical denizens render real the people of Baghdad to the reader, whether pious mystics, cynical wine merchants, or frontier soldiers turned detectives. It's a great mystery and its faithful portrayal of Baghdad makes it a compelling read for anyone interested in the history of Islam and the Medieval Middle East.
--Sherwan Hindreen Ali, a native Baghdadi and graduate student in the Institute for Islamic Studies, McGill University
This is a novel that will both entertain readers and educate them about a wide range of subjects relating to intellectual, social and cultural history of the period in which it is set. It successfully weaves together fiction with meticulous historical research.
--Michael Mumisa, Cambridge Special Livingstone Scholar
With an informed, historical view of the spiritual atmosphere in medieval Baghdad, Laury Silvers has written an exciting mystery in lucid, gripping prose, bringing to life complex individuals of the past, moral agents both layered and conflicted.
--Cyrus Ali Zargar, Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor, UCF and Author of The Polished Mirror
382 pages, ebook
Published May 27, 2019
61 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Laury Silvers
17 books56 followersAuthor also writes as Jayne Green
Laury Silvers is a North American Muslim, raised in the United States but finally at home in Canada. She writes historical mysteries set in medieval Muslim lands and contemporary thrillers set in Toronto under the name "Jayne Green."
The Ghazi Ammar Medieval Mysteries are the spin-off series from The Sufi Mysteries Quartet. History moves into the background and mystery moves up front, Ammar and Zaytuna trade quips and solve crimes in medieval Baghdad.
The Toronto Thrillers, written under the name Jayne Green are emotionally layered and plot-twisty, and on the left side of things politically. No need to sell your emotional or political soul to enjoy a trashy thriller. Disgraced out now.
The Sufi Mysteries Quartet are big-screen cinematic, wild, romantic, spiritually melodramatic and are so historically reliable in detail and interpretation, they are used in university courses and are considered by some to be fictional academic writing in themselves. Thousands of readers love them, why not you?
Rat City is a medieval noir novella set in an alternative medieval West Asian world. It is found in Revenge in Three. Three Muslim Novelists re-interpret The Count of Monte Cristo. I love it, but my fans who prefer my novels with characters on the arc of redemption won't find that here. Be warned. Derya Mack is a post-menopausal private detective with no shits left to give.
Silvers' research and publications as a historian of religion focused on early Islam, early Sufism, and early pious and Sufi women. She taught at Skidmore College and the University of Toronto. Silvers also published work engaging Islam and Gender in North America in academic journals and popular venues, was actively involved in the woman-led prayer movement, and co-founded the Toronto Unity Mosque. She has since retired from academia and activism and hopes her novels continue her scholarship and activism in their own way. She lives in Toronto under Treaty 13.
Laury Silvers is a North American Muslim, raised in the United States but finally at home in Canada. She writes historical mysteries set in medieval Muslim lands and contemporary thrillers set in Toronto under the name "Jayne Green."
The Ghazi Ammar Medieval Mysteries are the spin-off series from The Sufi Mysteries Quartet. History moves into the background and mystery moves up front, Ammar and Zaytuna trade quips and solve crimes in medieval Baghdad.
The Toronto Thrillers, written under the name Jayne Green are emotionally layered and plot-twisty, and on the left side of things politically. No need to sell your emotional or political soul to enjoy a trashy thriller. Disgraced out now.
The Sufi Mysteries Quartet are big-screen cinematic, wild, romantic, spiritually melodramatic and are so historically reliable in detail and interpretation, they are used in university courses and are considered by some to be fictional academic writing in themselves. Thousands of readers love them, why not you?
Rat City is a medieval noir novella set in an alternative medieval West Asian world. It is found in Revenge in Three. Three Muslim Novelists re-interpret The Count of Monte Cristo. I love it, but my fans who prefer my novels with characters on the arc of redemption won't find that here. Be warned. Derya Mack is a post-menopausal private detective with no shits left to give.
Silvers' research and publications as a historian of religion focused on early Islam, early Sufism, and early pious and Sufi women. She taught at Skidmore College and the University of Toronto. Silvers also published work engaging Islam and Gender in North America in academic journals and popular venues, was actively involved in the woman-led prayer movement, and co-founded the Toronto Unity Mosque. She has since retired from academia and activism and hopes her novels continue her scholarship and activism in their own way. She lives in Toronto under Treaty 13.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
June 3, 2019
Full disclosure, I am married to the author, but still, this is a great piece of historical fiction. It's a mystery set in 10th century Baghdad that captured my imagination wonderfully. I can attest to how well researched the setting of the story been been. The characters are multi-dimensional, the struggles feel real and the thread of the whodunit beautifully connects the action and the growth of the central characters. Zaytuna is a washer woman who is an aesthetic a.k.a. starving herself, in an attempt to make sense of things. Laila, a small girl she doesn't even really know, unexpectedly comes to her to solve the mystery of the death of a young servant boy with a broken nose. Not even sure why she's doing it or if she should be doing it, Zaytuna is compelled to pursue the case fraught with working against her own twin brother, the police of the day while trying to resolve her own life. The story has the feeling of being real and kept me up reading all weekend till the surprising end.Laury SilversThe Lover
November 20, 2019
ETA: Bumping this up from 4 stars to 5. There were some proofreading problems (mostly of the Missing Comma variety), but the fundamental thing that stays with me is that the characters felt as if they were living in their own "present day", if you see what I mean. It feels so rare to find this in historical fiction, which usually feels as if it all took place in the past. Yes, it happened in *our* past, but for the characters, the story is taking place in the present... I am struggling to think how this "present day" feel is done, or even to define the notion in a meaningful way. The reader (or at least this reader) ends up feeling the story is unfolding in the character's life as they're living it, moment by moment, even though it's all written in third-person and past-tense. I love it. I want to achieve it in my own writing. Stay tuned for a blog post!
# # #
An enjoyable read; with a detailed, immersive setting unusual in both time and place; and interesting, engaging characters. I very much liked that the story title - The Lover - draws on one of the 99 names of God (Allah), and that the story itself deals with love in all its many forms, and with love's consequences. I also enjoyed the rather sly twist to the usual central character for these sorts of mysteries: apparently the clever, insightful, knowledgeable man doesn't always have all the answers after all...
Good stuff!
# # #
An enjoyable read; with a detailed, immersive setting unusual in both time and place; and interesting, engaging characters. I very much liked that the story title - The Lover - draws on one of the 99 names of God (Allah), and that the story itself deals with love in all its many forms, and with love's consequences. I also enjoyed the rather sly twist to the usual central character for these sorts of mysteries: apparently the clever, insightful, knowledgeable man doesn't always have all the answers after all...
Good stuff!
November 17, 2019
Lyrical, beautiful, transporting - a murder mystery, a love story, and a woman's struggle to reconcile with God and her mother's memory. I cannot praise this book enough, and can't wait for its sequel!
There's a murder, some old-school Sufi/ Salafi beef, lowkey Abbasid khilaafah politics, badass women, and an entire cast of muhaddith tullaab al-'ilm, insidious imams, and falsified hadith collections. There are also some seriously on-point insights on a *lot* of very relevant, age-old Muslim issues related to scripture, gender, religiosity, cultural standards and hypocrisy, and so much more. The sheer intelligence of it all, the beautiful writing, the many layers of depth and meaning... it's stolen my heart.
There's a murder, some old-school Sufi/ Salafi beef, lowkey Abbasid khilaafah politics, badass women, and an entire cast of muhaddith tullaab al-'ilm, insidious imams, and falsified hadith collections. There are also some seriously on-point insights on a *lot* of very relevant, age-old Muslim issues related to scripture, gender, religiosity, cultural standards and hypocrisy, and so much more. The sheer intelligence of it all, the beautiful writing, the many layers of depth and meaning... it's stolen my heart.
June 7, 2019
The Lover drew me into an exciting mystery full of hope, anger, fear and all kinds of love. So much of it rang true to life. I am left longing to read more about the lives and adventures of these endearing characters. I enjoyed how lovingly Silvers crafted her characters with all of their realness. The brother-sister dynamic between Zaytuna and Tein was very enjoyable. It was so fun to explore the height of Abbasid Baghdad through fiction, especially as a former Middle Eastern studies student. The depth of research Silvers has put into the setting of this novel illuminates the narrative. I can’t wait to read more!
August 15, 2020
In 10th century Baghdad, Zaytuna struggles to find herself within her Sufi faith. At the same time, a servant boy dies (or was he killed?) and Zay is asked (and feels Called) to investigate.
My very question, before I'd even opened the book was "Why is it called The Lover?" Conveniently, the answer was found in the very first page of the preface, "The Lover" being one of the 99 names ascribed to God within the Muslim faith. It is a central idea of this story in which the realistically drawn characters are either yearning for love, be it romantically, that of a parent who is no longer around to give it, or mourning love lost through war and death. Rather than a story of kings and caliphs, who are the common subjects of works set during the medieval period, The Lover features everyday people—Hadith students, washerwoman, soldiers, and servants, most of whom are at the margins on account of their poverty, gender, the domination of Islam they practice, or even their race, anti-Blackness being as much a problem in the Islamic world as it is in the Christian world.
Zaytuna is a fascinating character with an interesting challenge. Her late mother was a renowned Sufi preacher from Africa, and Zay longs to embody a similar all-encompassing devotion to God even though that devotion in her mother is Zay's biggest source of pain—the fact that she never got to have the simple, everyday love between mother and daughter. It's hard to both love and be loved by a veritable saint, and the absence of this love, as well as Zay having obsessively wanted it to begin with, eats at her and her various relationships with others.
I knew little about Sufism before this book. It seems like a challenging path of the complete sublimation of ones wants and desires to the ecstasy of God's love. I really enjoyed watching Zay's journey, the murder investigation becoming yet another obsession fuelled by her existing one that she grows determined to solve regardless of the negative effect her actions might have on others. And the mystery itself was great, fully steeped in both the religion and the time period. I had so many theories as to what happened but ultimately was unable to guess the culprit.
A lot of backstory and worldbuilding is done in the first couple of chapters, which is beneficial for being able to understand the story, especially for non-Muslim readers like myself. However I did find this part of the book slow going and would have preferred a more interwoven introduction of concepts. However once the main plot gets going it is pacey and engaging, showing us the world through a handful of POV characters and their individual struggles. I look forward to continuing on with this series.
My very question, before I'd even opened the book was "Why is it called The Lover?" Conveniently, the answer was found in the very first page of the preface, "The Lover" being one of the 99 names ascribed to God within the Muslim faith. It is a central idea of this story in which the realistically drawn characters are either yearning for love, be it romantically, that of a parent who is no longer around to give it, or mourning love lost through war and death. Rather than a story of kings and caliphs, who are the common subjects of works set during the medieval period, The Lover features everyday people—Hadith students, washerwoman, soldiers, and servants, most of whom are at the margins on account of their poverty, gender, the domination of Islam they practice, or even their race, anti-Blackness being as much a problem in the Islamic world as it is in the Christian world.
Zaytuna is a fascinating character with an interesting challenge. Her late mother was a renowned Sufi preacher from Africa, and Zay longs to embody a similar all-encompassing devotion to God even though that devotion in her mother is Zay's biggest source of pain—the fact that she never got to have the simple, everyday love between mother and daughter. It's hard to both love and be loved by a veritable saint, and the absence of this love, as well as Zay having obsessively wanted it to begin with, eats at her and her various relationships with others.
I knew little about Sufism before this book. It seems like a challenging path of the complete sublimation of ones wants and desires to the ecstasy of God's love. I really enjoyed watching Zay's journey, the murder investigation becoming yet another obsession fuelled by her existing one that she grows determined to solve regardless of the negative effect her actions might have on others. And the mystery itself was great, fully steeped in both the religion and the time period. I had so many theories as to what happened but ultimately was unable to guess the culprit.
A lot of backstory and worldbuilding is done in the first couple of chapters, which is beneficial for being able to understand the story, especially for non-Muslim readers like myself. However I did find this part of the book slow going and would have preferred a more interwoven introduction of concepts. However once the main plot gets going it is pacey and engaging, showing us the world through a handful of POV characters and their individual struggles. I look forward to continuing on with this series.
October 19, 2020
This book is billed as a mystery, and it was, but that wasn't my favorite thing about it. More enjoyable to me was the absolute sense of place, time, and faith that are portrayed in The Lover. Zaytuna is fully grounded in her time, but also quite universal in her desires. Her relationships with her brother, her friends, and the children were all very realistic.
The story starts slowly, grounding you in the setting and acquaint you with the characters. Give it the time it deserves and you will soon be wiping the dust of Baghdad from your face.
The story starts slowly, grounding you in the setting and acquaint you with the characters. Give it the time it deserves and you will soon be wiping the dust of Baghdad from your face.
July 26, 2019
A strong woman as the main character, a compelling story, and lots of interesting Islamic history. Not to mention some Sufi lessons for the open-hearted. A welcome antidote to monolithic representations of Islam and Muslims. What a pleasure to see a scholar put their knowledge to work in a way that can reach a wider audience. Looking forward to the next in the series!
February 3, 2020
I love this book because it reminds me so much of my Muslim friends, their lifestyle and priorities. Laury Silvers interweaves exquisitely the details of daily life, relationships, religious traditions, and thought processes in the story of a suspicious death. The mystery is solved, but not closed. The resolution is an opening - very "Sufi".
May 21, 2020
my heart ♥️
my heart ♥️
This is all I can seem to muster right now
my heart ♥️
This is all I can seem to muster right now
March 31, 2023
These stories are worth reading for their complex, historical fiction portrayal of Baghdad at time when Islamic scholars were still collecting and evaluating Hadith, wrestling with the sunnah, and how this religion should be. You can see the seeds of an orthodoxy, but it's not entrenched. The religion was well-established, but still young. I found it really fascinating. The story and characters are also a solid 3.5.
Thank you to the author for giving away the ebook for the first 3 books in this series for a Ramadan promotion.
Thank you to the author for giving away the ebook for the first 3 books in this series for a Ramadan promotion.
September 7, 2021
The Lover is a story of mystics and mysteries in 10th-century Baghdad, a setting so well invoked you can feel dust under your sandaled feet, taste the coolness of water and the earthiness of lentils, feel the heat of the sun reflecting off walls and the breeze on rooftops at night.
The death of a child – a servant who falls to his death from the rooftop where he is sleeping – is the prosaic mystery to be solved. Why should the police do anything but a cursory investigation over his death? He was known to sleepwalk, and who in a respected imam’s household would kill a child?
But beyond this mystery is another story, that of brother and sister Zaytuna and Tein. Children of a celebrated Sufi mystic, raised within and often by other Sufi adherents, they both become embroiled in the circumstances of the child’s death in different ways: Zaytuna through the network of servants and labourers she is part of; Tein through his appointment to the Baghdad police.
The Lover of the title is one of the faces of God, but the longing for love is a theme that runs throughout the book. Zaytuna and Tein’s mother desired nothing more than complete immersion in God’s love; Zaytuna especially feels the lack of a mother’s focus, but is equally drawn to find a path to the same love of God her mother sought.
Women are central to this story. Not, with one exception, women of privilege, but the working women of the city. Author Laury Silvers is both a Sufi Muslim and a scholar of Islam, and she portrays honestly both the humiliations and limitations of these marginalized lives, and the joys and moments of levity or deep feeling.
Woven into the narrative are the practices of Islam, and the divide between Sufi and Shia paths; these are beautifully written as part of the story, without overwhelming the reader with information. Because this setting is unfamiliar to many readers, time is taken to build the world at the beginning, but the pace quickens after the first couple of chapters. This is a book that needs to be read carefully, paying attention to names and allegiances, but it is well worth taking the time to do that.
The Lover is the first book of a series: I am looking forward to reading the next. Highly recommended for a reader of historical fiction looking to learn about an unfamiliar world and who appreciates nuanced, layered writing – and history.
Originally Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds
The death of a child – a servant who falls to his death from the rooftop where he is sleeping – is the prosaic mystery to be solved. Why should the police do anything but a cursory investigation over his death? He was known to sleepwalk, and who in a respected imam’s household would kill a child?
But beyond this mystery is another story, that of brother and sister Zaytuna and Tein. Children of a celebrated Sufi mystic, raised within and often by other Sufi adherents, they both become embroiled in the circumstances of the child’s death in different ways: Zaytuna through the network of servants and labourers she is part of; Tein through his appointment to the Baghdad police.
The Lover of the title is one of the faces of God, but the longing for love is a theme that runs throughout the book. Zaytuna and Tein’s mother desired nothing more than complete immersion in God’s love; Zaytuna especially feels the lack of a mother’s focus, but is equally drawn to find a path to the same love of God her mother sought.
Women are central to this story. Not, with one exception, women of privilege, but the working women of the city. Author Laury Silvers is both a Sufi Muslim and a scholar of Islam, and she portrays honestly both the humiliations and limitations of these marginalized lives, and the joys and moments of levity or deep feeling.
Woven into the narrative are the practices of Islam, and the divide between Sufi and Shia paths; these are beautifully written as part of the story, without overwhelming the reader with information. Because this setting is unfamiliar to many readers, time is taken to build the world at the beginning, but the pace quickens after the first couple of chapters. This is a book that needs to be read carefully, paying attention to names and allegiances, but it is well worth taking the time to do that.
The Lover is the first book of a series: I am looking forward to reading the next. Highly recommended for a reader of historical fiction looking to learn about an unfamiliar world and who appreciates nuanced, layered writing – and history.
Originally Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds
June 19, 2019
Reading this book gave me the same feeling I had reading The Name of the Rose. Drawn completely into a very specific time and place so vivid that right now I can visualize the courtyard in front of Zaytuna's room and Salman's shop and the long walk through Baghdad the way I could imagine the passages through the library in Name of the Rose. It also has the same sense of the deadly importance of scholarship -- no spoilers but there are amazing plot points around hadith scholars and charismatic Sufis and ideological conflicts that really capture how intense it must have been in 10th century Baghdad. I was also fully drawn into the timeless personal struggles of Zaytuna and Zaid and Mustapha -- trauma, piety, self-doubt -- and keep thinking about how their lives could unfold. I'm a sucker for historical mysteries and seek them out but, frankly, most of them are crap. Only rarely do I get to book 2 in a series. With The Lover, I was only halfway through when I starting wondering what would be next. (Disappointed that I have to wait but it looks like #2 is on the way.) Looking forward to hearing what other people think about it.
June 26, 2019
Kindle.
I loved that it was a mystery, right from the beginning, I was totally captivated by the story and by Laury's prose and descriptions. I laughed out loud at the Hadith scholars scene, it was just brilliant. Laury has a map of Baghdad on her web page where I was able to follow Zaytuna as she wandered around the city. I never guessed what had really happened with the boy.
The characters are all well depicted, it is as well a Sufi story of mystic love, and our humanness. I was unaware that Junayd, Nuri and al-Hallaj were contemporaries. I read it once for the story, and the second time to deepen in the Love.
I am so happy that it is Book 1 in a series, and grateful that Laury has the gift of making the complex simple and so enjoyable.
I loved that it was a mystery, right from the beginning, I was totally captivated by the story and by Laury's prose and descriptions. I laughed out loud at the Hadith scholars scene, it was just brilliant. Laury has a map of Baghdad on her web page where I was able to follow Zaytuna as she wandered around the city. I never guessed what had really happened with the boy.
The characters are all well depicted, it is as well a Sufi story of mystic love, and our humanness. I was unaware that Junayd, Nuri and al-Hallaj were contemporaries. I read it once for the story, and the second time to deepen in the Love.
I am so happy that it is Book 1 in a series, and grateful that Laury has the gift of making the complex simple and so enjoyable.
October 13, 2019
Very rarely do you come across a book that's fictional yet inspiring you to be the best person within the tenets of Islam. It also gets rid of the notion that its impossible to be a devoted servant of Allah in the most trying circumstances. I think we all can take a leaf out of it.
July 28, 2019
Loved this book. Very well researched. The issues raised are just as relevant today as they were in the past. Looking forward to the second in the series.
March 5, 2020
I really enjoyed this book! Fascinating characters and a richly described setting. Great historical mystery.
August 4, 2020
I enjoyed this book very much, for the characters' inner life and their relationships. The depiction of life in 10th century Baghdad is intriguing but I want more. I would have loved a street plan.
February 26, 2021
"None of us escapes getting to know each of God’s names, and intimately so. It’s the truth."
January 16, 2021
The Lover is a fine piece of historical fiction. There is a murder mystery that guides the plot, but it isn't central to the novel. From the very beginning the old world opens up to us on these pages, and we are transported to the streets of Baghdad at the height of its glory. There are various Islamic scholars, Sufis and "ordinary people" just doing their best to survive. The novel is really a window into an epoch from a fresh perspective.
Laury Silvers is a Sufi and an Islamic scholar, and this is obvious in this well-researched book. The religious teachings are wonderfully translated into the narrative and are a joy to read. I loved how this book juxtaposes Islamic spirituality and legal practice - there are very few fiction books dealing with this topic.
Another great thing about this book is that the main character, Zaytuna, is not a stereotypical Muslim woman belonging to upper social classes commonly found in historical fiction. She has a complex relationship with her faith, the memory of her mother and her relationships with men that never feels out of context.
However, I found the main characters unrelatable because despite everything good about this book I never felt the emotional connection to them. I really wanted to love this book more than I did.
The murder mystery part moved really slowly and the whole thing failed to make sense to me. I liked the ultimate message of the story, but I felt the plot was rather weak.
Ultimately, it took me a very long time to go through the novel waiting for the moment when I'm gonna fall in love with it, which in the end never happened.
Laury Silvers is a Sufi and an Islamic scholar, and this is obvious in this well-researched book. The religious teachings are wonderfully translated into the narrative and are a joy to read. I loved how this book juxtaposes Islamic spirituality and legal practice - there are very few fiction books dealing with this topic.
Another great thing about this book is that the main character, Zaytuna, is not a stereotypical Muslim woman belonging to upper social classes commonly found in historical fiction. She has a complex relationship with her faith, the memory of her mother and her relationships with men that never feels out of context.
However, I found the main characters unrelatable because despite everything good about this book I never felt the emotional connection to them. I really wanted to love this book more than I did.
The murder mystery part moved really slowly and the whole thing failed to make sense to me. I liked the ultimate message of the story, but I felt the plot was rather weak.
Ultimately, it took me a very long time to go through the novel waiting for the moment when I'm gonna fall in love with it, which in the end never happened.
February 16, 2023
A riveting crime thriller imbued with insights from Sufi thought. Silver's attention to detail as an academic and her mastery over creative fiction is evident in this book. She not only paints tenth century Baghdad in a visually evocative manner, but pays attention to the cultural ethos, religious values, and ethical modes that undergird every day life in the city. One can imagine the characters and through them life in tenth century Baghdad. The opening scene where Zaytuna separates grit from lentils and through a reflection over the lentil's life offers insight into to nature of the world reminded me of Rumi's rumination on the chickpea. The book will be a useful and interesting read for both creative writers and academics.
August 18, 2019
A mystery in Baghdad
Zaytuna leaves no stone unturned in investigating the death of a young boy. As the story progresses, we learn a great deal about her childhood struggles. Well written and intriguing.
Zaytuna leaves no stone unturned in investigating the death of a young boy. As the story progresses, we learn a great deal about her childhood struggles. Well written and intriguing.
Read
September 20, 2021Dust and cool water; ascetism and the bonds of love. In 10th century Baghdad, Zaytuna is torn between the mysticism of Sufi practice and her need for connection to the world – and the reality of survival day to day. When a child dies in a fall, she must try to understand why, bringing her into conflict with both powerful people and her own brother, and challenging, too, her own understanding of herself and her faith.
The setting is carefully and slowly built, with great skill: I could imagine myself there in the markets and courtyards, among the crowds on the streets and on the flat roofs of houses. Characters are drawn precisely, with a beautiful economy of words, giving the reader just enough.
Laury Silvers gives us a glimpse into a world unfamiliar to most of us, that of women in medieval Islam. Not women of privilege, but women whose lives are given up to labour, the women who wash rich families’ clothes, or sweep houses and cook meals. Lives that are limited by poverty, but sometimes joyous, sometimes transcendent, and sometimes cruel.
The need for relationships – with family, with friends, with God – is central to The Lover. (The title refers to one of the faces of God.) Zaytuna is driven to investigate the boy’s death for reasons that are interwoven with her own need for love, and the value of each life.
The Lover is the first of a series. I hope to read the others soon; meanwhile, I recommend The Lover strongly to anyone who wishes to learn more about medieval Islam and the lives of women in that time.
The setting is carefully and slowly built, with great skill: I could imagine myself there in the markets and courtyards, among the crowds on the streets and on the flat roofs of houses. Characters are drawn precisely, with a beautiful economy of words, giving the reader just enough.
Laury Silvers gives us a glimpse into a world unfamiliar to most of us, that of women in medieval Islam. Not women of privilege, but women whose lives are given up to labour, the women who wash rich families’ clothes, or sweep houses and cook meals. Lives that are limited by poverty, but sometimes joyous, sometimes transcendent, and sometimes cruel.
The need for relationships – with family, with friends, with God – is central to The Lover. (The title refers to one of the faces of God.) Zaytuna is driven to investigate the boy’s death for reasons that are interwoven with her own need for love, and the value of each life.
The Lover is the first of a series. I hope to read the others soon; meanwhile, I recommend The Lover strongly to anyone who wishes to learn more about medieval Islam and the lives of women in that time.
November 24, 2024
So often Muslim history is written in broad strokes. Either it is all about valiant, near perfect, infallible human beings or they are terrorists. Completely black and white.
It is rare that you find a historical fiction novel based in a Muslim society that narrates all the layers and complexities or human nature and all the different sects and manners of practicing religion. This book does all of that and then some!
The characters are very potent and you will find yourself wanting to follow them as they unravel not only the murder mystery but themselves in the process.
I honestly felt like I was there in Baghdad witnessing everything.
It is rare that you find a historical fiction novel based in a Muslim society that narrates all the layers and complexities or human nature and all the different sects and manners of practicing religion. This book does all of that and then some!
The characters are very potent and you will find yourself wanting to follow them as they unravel not only the murder mystery but themselves in the process.
I honestly felt like I was there in Baghdad witnessing everything.
January 1, 2021
رواية مهمة ومختلفة، هي الأولى من رباعية تدور أحداثها في بغداد أواخر القرن الثالث الهجري، في قالب غموض وجريمة، نتتبع فيه رحلة "زيتونة" الروحية وأسئلة الإيمان والتصوف والعيش مع الحزن. أهم ما في الرواية قدرتها على رسم الكثير من الشخصيات المثيرة للفضول وكشفها للتنوع الضخم في الثقافة ومنظومات التفكير المختلفة في تلك الحقبة من التاريخ، والتي ما زالت تنعكس على والمجتمع العربي الإسلامي حتى اليوم. سأكتب مراجعة أوسع قريبًا.
March 3, 2020
I read this for a college course, and loved it. It not only reads as a very good mystery, but on another level it helps the reader not as a monolithic 'one size fits all' religion, but as a an actual 3D, kodachromatic multifaceted set of beliefs. A beautiful read.
April 16, 2020
Before I started reading I thought this was going to be a classical murder mystery, albeit set in medieval Baghdad. It turned out to be more a slice of life of medieval Baghdad with interesting characters.
March 23, 2025
I really love how detailed and vivid the story was, the setting was amazingly researched, you can definitely tell. Yet this didn’t take away from the characters or the plot. I jumped straight onto the next book in the series because I wanted to know what would happen next and Just love the way the story was told. The ending was different to what I expected, but I liked that. It was also great to learn more about the inner workings of Islamic Society in Abbassid Baghdad and the diversity of the people as well.
I’ve always been interested in Sufism as a concept so it’s really cool to have them as an important part of this tail and series. Also, I love how not just sunni and shi’a was explored but other kinds of divide like the different ahadith scholars, Imams, schools in general, versus those loyal to the caliphate etc. From the scholars to the lower classes, the different races and religions were perfectly woven in without making too much of a point of it. Also, it was really interesting to get glimpses of how things worked in terms of the policing and judicial realm as well. Again, meticulously researched. My favourite character so far has got to be Saliha honestly she is so funny, salacious and witty. My heart breaks for Zaytuna and Tein and what they went through. Their mother seems like such an intriguing character and shaikh Junaid honestly scares me. I feel like he’s a telepath, reader of souls, hearts and has otherworldly powers or something. This all just makes it so much more intriguing and why I want to continue the series. Totally rooting for all the characters here. :-)
I’ve always been interested in Sufism as a concept so it’s really cool to have them as an important part of this tail and series. Also, I love how not just sunni and shi’a was explored but other kinds of divide like the different ahadith scholars, Imams, schools in general, versus those loyal to the caliphate etc. From the scholars to the lower classes, the different races and religions were perfectly woven in without making too much of a point of it. Also, it was really interesting to get glimpses of how things worked in terms of the policing and judicial realm as well. Again, meticulously researched. My favourite character so far has got to be Saliha honestly she is so funny, salacious and witty. My heart breaks for Zaytuna and Tein and what they went through. Their mother seems like such an intriguing character and shaikh Junaid honestly scares me. I feel like he’s a telepath, reader of souls, hearts and has otherworldly powers or something. This all just makes it so much more intriguing and why I want to continue the series. Totally rooting for all the characters here. :-)
August 16, 2020
I was very excited to discover this gem of a historical novel set in 10th century Baghdad during its golden age. The main protagonist, Zaytuna, an ascetic who still has much to learn about herself, is drawn into a mystery surrounding the death of a local orphan boy. She must find her way among members of her community, the local authorities, slave owners, washer-women, Hadith scholars, and friends, as well as tackle her own complicated past in order to assist in solving the mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this great debut from author Ms Silvers, who is an academic and scholar of Islam and Sufism in the Formative Period in the Islamic East. It is obvious through her writing that Silvers writes with a familiarity and confidence in the subject matter. The interactions and relationships between characters are well drawn out and speak to a deeper understanding of the time and place from which they have come. A delightful read for history lovers and those interested in Muslim life in medieval times.
I thoroughly enjoyed this great debut from author Ms Silvers, who is an academic and scholar of Islam and Sufism in the Formative Period in the Islamic East. It is obvious through her writing that Silvers writes with a familiarity and confidence in the subject matter. The interactions and relationships between characters are well drawn out and speak to a deeper understanding of the time and place from which they have come. A delightful read for history lovers and those interested in Muslim life in medieval times.
April 6, 2023
This is a tough book to evaluate. While I did not think the mystery was very convincingly plotted, the author was clear in the introduction that she let the big throughline—the heroine's Sufi journey—guide the resolution of this part of the story. The book was engaging historical fiction that gave a clear picture of the practice of Sufism (especially the ecstatic, "God-intoxicated" Sufis), Sunni and Shia theology, Abbasid society, and hadith and Islamic law. This series was recommended to me by a well-known scholar in the field of Islamic history and theology, so I have a lot of faith in the research, characterizations, and portrayals. Best of all, I was fully engaged with the characters.
I am not sure how easy this book would be to read if you had no knowledge of the period or the tradition, though I did consider it briefly for a summer read for my Middle East history students. The book does not shy away from the reality of sexual violence, especially against enslaved women, so I decided against it. However, I have purchased the whole series, and look forward to reading more.
I am not sure how easy this book would be to read if you had no knowledge of the period or the tradition, though I did consider it briefly for a summer read for my Middle East history students. The book does not shy away from the reality of sexual violence, especially against enslaved women, so I decided against it. However, I have purchased the whole series, and look forward to reading more.
January 8, 2021
This is an engaging look at Baghdad in the days of the Abbasids, when the golden chains linking haditha scholars to Mohammed himself included only a handful of names. It's also a murder mystery, set among the lower classes of this cosmopolitan city and amid the sometimes conflicting views of the Shia and Sufis who make it their home. Zaytuna is a washerwoman who longs to escape her personal pain but can't let go of the past no matter how often she prays or fasts. She still grieves for her mother, a famed ecstatic whose love for God eclipsed everything else, including her two children. But she can't ignore Layla, an indentured servant girl who begs for her help when another servant in her master's household, the boy Zayd, is killed. Soon enough Zaytuna enlists her brother, a soldier now working for the grave crimes section of the city's police, as well as Ammar, his boss, and her own best friend, Saliha, in her quest. Together and separately, they move among the scholars, merchants, slaves and corpsewashers, gathering clues that will resolve the mystery but demand an entirely Sufi solution based more on love than vengeance. Well-written, penetrating, and populated with characters who bring the whole medieval city to life.
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