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The world's great authors discuss their best-known novel.

World Book Club: Elif Shafak - The Forty Rules of Love

Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak - The Forty Rules of Love

BBC World Service - World Book Club, Elif Shafak - The Forty Rules of Love

A novel about love, mysticism and the life of the Sufi poet Rumi

Harriett Gilbert speaks to author Elif Shafak about her novel 'The Forty Rules of Love'.

This month we’re talking to one of Turkey’s foremost writers Elif Shafak. 

She’s answering your questions about her bestselling novel The Forty Rules of Love, an investigation into love, mysticism and the life of the famed Sufi poet Rumi. 

Crossing continents and centuries two parallel love stories unfold and lives are turned upside down: Ella, an unhappily married modern day American housewife falls for a mysterious email correspondent and Rumi, the 13th Century mystic encounters his spiritual mentor, the wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz.

Photo: Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty Images.

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