"It's hard to imagine shaking off the dust of this thousand-year-old volume of stories (recently discovered in an Istanbul library) and seeing them for the first time. As thoughtful as they are wondrous, these tales run the gamut: epic and domestic, charming and chilling, realistic and magical, with prose like a jewel box. If it looks scholarly at first glance, take heart; by the time God folds up the desert to help a lost heroine find her way across a strange land, this collection will have made itself at home in your imagination."
–
NPR, "Guide To 2015's Great Reads"
"A revelation–a real classic of popular literature, so fluent that it is not just addictive reading but a genuine pleasure to sit down and lose yourself."
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Sunday Times "Offers a gateway to a different world of language and ideas, florid, wildly descriptive and are a powerful reminder of the human need for story . . . irresistible."
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The Independent "This book is an astonishment . . . a profound oddity, but an absolutely intriguing one."
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Scotland on Sunday "Instantly appealing [with] headlong narrative drive . . . above all, fun."
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The Guardian "Lyons's translation is fluent and entertaining...Coupled with an informative introduction by Robert Irwin, author of
The Arabian Nights: A Companion, this book is a welcome and recommended addition to those who enjoy the
Arabian Nights.
–
Library Journal
