Who am I?
In the Spring of 2006, I went to the south of France searching for troubadours. It was my MA year and my thesis was looking at the influence of the courtly love tradition on Chaucer’s writing. Troubadours (and the female, trobairitz) were nowhere to be found. The closest I came was a café named Le Troubadour. However, evidence of their lyrics was there in the beauty and lushness of Languedoc in spring. I'm always drawn to the poetry, landscapes, and love stories of the past and have experienced how these connections enrich my life. I've completed a PhD in seventeenth-century literature and become an historical fiction novelist and a devotee of history and historical fiction.
Coirle's book list on escape the everyday into sensuous landscapes
Why did Coirle love this book?
This dual timeline novel is based on the transformative relationship between the 13th-century love poet, Rumi, his contemporary wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz, and a twenty-first-century homemaker who alters her life based on their teachings and the intensity of their bond.
The author weaves these characters into a narrative that celebrates love in all its forms as the most powerful force of nature. This book features fictionalized characterisation of real personages, as well as presenting a variety of other characters representing humanity in all its greatness and ugliness. Philosophical and thought-provoking, this book deepened my life.
3 authors picked The Forty Rules of Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
The international bestseller from the author of the Booker-shortlisted novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, The Forty Rules of Love is part of our Penguin Essentials series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics
*One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped the World'*
"Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough..."
Ella Rubinstein has a husband, three teenage children, and a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident and fulfilled. Yet there is…