{"product_id":"the-jewel-and-the-ember-love-stories-from-the-ancient-middle-east-9781623717537","title":"The Jewel and the Ember: Love Stories from the Ancient Middle East","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Jewel and the Ember\u003c\/i\u003e is a unique collection of enchanting, enlightening, joyful, painful, and funny pre-Islamic love stories drawn from ancient sources throughout the Middle East, illustrating our eternal search for enduring love and encouraging the heart to sing.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe human soul is eternally engaged in the search for enduring love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Jewel and the Ember \u003c\/i\u003eis a unique collection of compelling, enlightening, sometimes joyful, sometimes painful, often funny love stories culled from pre- Islamic folktales and poems, drawn from ancient sources throughout the Middle East, including Zoroastrian Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Moorish Spain, and Arabia. These eleven timeless tales resonate across cultures and ethnicities, adapted and retold (though not reinvented) from lengthy, dense translations and provide alternatives to the all-too-common Arabian Nights and other Orientalist sagas. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHere, readers will encounter strong, smart, self-sufficient women--far different from the clichéd, frequently shrouded creatures characterized in popular fables--and vulnerable men--full participants in the sufferings, longings, ecstasies, foibles, and complexities shared by all lovers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn haunting, entertaining, richly embroidered language, \u003ci\u003eThe Jewel and the Ember\u003c\/i\u003e speaks of desire, sensuality, and passion. It welcomes us into lands and societies of which few in the West are acquainted. These enchanting stories illustrate love's universal values and encourage the heart to sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJennifer Heath is an independent scholar, award-winning cultural journalist, curator, and activist, born in Australia and educated in Latin America, Europe, and Central Asia.. She studied history and folklore, has traveled extensively throughout the Muslim world and is the author or editor of fifteen books of fiction and non-fiction, including \u003ci\u003eThe Scimitar and the Veil: Extraordinary Women of Islam\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Veil: Women Writers on its History, Lore and Politics, Children of Afghanistan: The Path to Peace, \u003c\/i\u003e and, with \u003ci\u003eAshraf Zahedi, Book of the Disappeared: the Quest for Transnational Justice. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Interlink Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50901484306706,"sku":"9781623717537","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b1d83184-6bca-4958-8933-75e952a85b36.jpg?v=1738427157","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-jewel-and-the-ember-love-stories-from-the-ancient-middle-east-9781623717537","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}