For the silk to prosper, the silkworm must die … and this is the essence of Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love, listed by BBC among 100 Novels that Shaped Our World.

This is definitely a book to read snuggled in bed – with a warm cup of tea – that may possibly influence what you do next in your life and how you choose to love.

Born in France, raised in Turkey and also of British nationality, Elif demonstrates the richness of storytelling by virtue of an author’s diverse background. Elif has published seventeen books and is also a women’s rights activist and founding member of European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). She writes in both Turkish and English; her books translated into over 50 languages. Not only a great author but truly an inspiring woman – not to mention stunning!

Shafak invites us into a fictional history of the power of love as shared between the scholar Rumi and his companion Shams of Tabriz  back to 1252 and linking it to the contemporary story of Ella’s discovery of love’s potency in the 2000s. This is a story within a story – two books in one.

Ella lives an organised, safe and mundane life with her cheating but devoted husband; a successful dentist. Her ability to control her table, her recipes and her life keeps Ella grounded but unhappy. “Ella headed to the kitchen and did what she always did in time of emotional unrest – she cooked.” She takes up a job at an agency where she is given a manuscript to review; a manuscript curious enough but not important enough for the top editors to review. This serves as the twist to her destiny.

Ella begins to read the manuscript Sweet Blasphemy, first with skepticism then with passion. Shams of Tabriz, the main character, brings enlightenment to all on his path but is also the rock they hit themselves up on. With his ability to perceive the future, Shams misses having a companion to whom he would pass his forty rules of love – a knowledge he does not wish to die with. He understands that to find his companion he must travel far and risk his life – he must prepare himself to be the silkworm, to submit and die before death. That is how this Persian Sufi dervish starts his journey from Samarkand to Baghdad, to Konya and even as far as Damascus.

The Forty Rules of Love, though of profound themes, is as light as puff pastry to read. We follow the historical contexts of life in Konya and that of Islamic scholars, guiding us toward an understanding of Sufi mysticism and into the beautiful sema dance of longing … for God, for love … in contrast to the patriarchal pursuit of God by the well read scholars. “Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves tangles and risks everything,” says Shams.

Elif also brings us to question the barriers and biased interpretations of religion on practicing pure love towards all people: drunkards, heretics, prostitutes, our companions. It is not for us to judge, Shams always reminds those he brings enlightenment to along his journey of transforming Rumi from an Islamic Scholar – a Mawlana – into a poet. Their love is silk.

Meanwhile, back in Boston, Ella wonders how she too can practise submission. Can she resist her urge to give up her need for order, logic, routine?

She decides to write to Aziz Zahara, the author of Sweet Blasphemy, setting off the other story in the story of their parallel journey through love and loss.