Elif Shafak

till waters—a predictable sequence of habits, needs, and preferences.

ore important things than passion and love in a marriage, such as understanding, affection, compassion, and that most godlike act a person could perform, forgiveness.

g, busy house with children, elegant furniture, and the wafting scent of homemade pies

ve came to Ella as suddenly and brusquely as if a stone had been hurled from out of nowhere into the tranquil pond of her life.

Isn’t connecting people to distant lands and cultures one of the strengths of good literature?”

ecret of the Qur’an lies in the verse Al-Fatiha,
And the secret of Al-Fatiha lies in Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
And the quintessence of Bismillah is the letter ba,
And there is a dot below that letter.…
The dot underneath the B embodies the entire universe.…

The Mathnawi starts with B,

secret of the Qur’an lies in the verse Al-Fatiha,
And the secret of Al-Fatiha lies in Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
And the quintessence of Bismillah is the letter ba,
And there is a dot below that letter.…
The dot underneath the B embodies the entire universe.…

The Mathnawi starts with B,

There were more important things than passion and love in a marriage, such as understanding, affection, compassion, and that most godlike act a person could perform, forgiveness. Love was secondary to any of these. Unless, that is, one lived in novels or romantic movies, where the protagonists were always larger than life and their love nothing short of legend.

No matter who we are or where we live, deep inside we all feel incomplete. It’s like we have lost something and need to get it back. Just what that something is, most of us never find out. And of those who do, even fewer manage to go out and look for it.

“She is a prize. Always was,”