Milia's response to her new husband Mansour and to the Middle East of 1947 is to close her eyes and drift into parallel worlds. Identities shift. Present, past and future mingle and merge: she finds herself able to converse with the dead and foresee the future. As the novel progresses in glimpses, Milia's dreams become more navigable than the strange and obstinate "reality" in which she finds herself, and the two worlds grow ever more entangled. Milia's response to her new husband Mansour and to the Middle East of 1947 is to close her eyes and drift into parallel worlds where identities shift, where she can converse with the dead and foresee the future. As the novel progresses, Milia's dreams become more navigable than the strange and obstinate "reality" in which she finds herself, and the two worlds grow ever more entangled. This wondrous tapestry of love, faith, history, poetry, and vision cuts to the very heart of deep-rooted conflicts of the region and breaks new literary ground. -- from the book jacket.