The language of bees

In the latest thrilling multi-stranded epic from the award-winning author of The Devils’ Dance, an Uzbek writer in exile traces the fate of the medieval polymath Avicenna, who shaped Islamic thought and science for centuries.

Following a strange dream Uzbek writer Sheikhov is convinced that the medieval polymath Avicenna has been condemned to roam the world for centuries.

The novel follows Avicenna in various incarnations across the ages from Ottoman Turkey to medieval Germany and Renaissance Italy.

Sheikhov plies the same route, though his troubles are distinctly modern as he endures the petty humiliations of exile. Drawing from his own experience as a writer in exile, Hamid Ismailov has crafted another masterpiece, combining traditional oral storytelling and contemporary global fiction in a modern reincarnation of a famous Sufi parable.