Of Strangers and 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.

Waking from a portentous dream, Uzbek writer Sheikhov is convinced that Avicenna still lives, condemned to roam the world. Avicenna appears 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.

Following the award-winning The Devils' Dance, Hamid Ismailov has crafted another masterpiece, combining traditional oral storytelling with contemporary global fiction to create a modern Sufi parable about the search for truth and wisdom. Packed with old and new fables, Ismailov has created his own complex, absorbing version of the Hayy ibn Yaqzan tale.

Translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega. Description taken from publisher.