The Jewel and the Ember : Interlink Books : 9781623717537 : 1623717531 : 12 Sep 2024 : The human soul is eternally engaged in the search for enduring love. The Jewel and the Ember is 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. Here, readers will encounter strong, smart, self-sufficient women - far different from the cliched, frequently shrouded creatures characterized in popular fables - and vulnerable men - full participants in the sufferings, longings, ecstasies, foibles, and complexities shared by all lovers.