JOURNEY TO MY HEART The fiery beauty playing bodyguard to a bank heist witness arouses FBI agent Cooper Talbot’s suspicions…and desire. Independent contractor Olivia Carrington could be concealing her own complicity. But Cooper can’t fight the combustible attraction that leads them into a clandestine romance. Can he put aside his past for a woman in danger? Or is he falling for Olivia at his own peril? THE SWEETEST AFFAIR Pastry chef Tracee Coleman dreams of opening her own café. But when a chance encounter with a hotel heir literally sends her flying into his arms, her vow to avoid romantic distractions goes up in flames. Tall, strong and sexy, Laurent Martin is as commanding in the boardroom as he is in the bedroom. But will Tracee be able to forgive him when his true business intentions are exposed?

“California!” raps a voice in this echoing band of novellas. “California, that land where the fruits of Modern Times have been plucked on such a scale that we seem to find in its ripest form what old tradition has prized – Freedom! ah, Freedom… And what is the nature of this eternal mirage?” Many quests are pursued through these five interlinked tales, which travel from London to L.A., Southwest City to Araby, real to unreal landscapes where the Anglo has thrived, in license or pathos, until he or she begins to seem a vanishing breed. Kerouacian bodhisattvas, soap-opera plutocrats, shape-shifting femme fatales, redemptive spirits ready to lay down and die on a beach – through realms of materialism, erotic longing and anomie, a cast of personae from a receding past plays out its epic melodrama. The end of the road is at once gorgeous, grotesque, transcendental and aesthetically haunting.

For anyone interested in Sufism in particular, or mystical understanding in general, Attar’s works are indispensable. His influence on later giants, such as the mystic poet Jalaleddin Rumi, is well documented. Attar is mostly known in the West for his Biographies of the Saints, and for Conference of the Birds; but he has also produced a number of other masterpieces well-known among lay persons and Sufi practitioners in Iran, and in cultures influenced by the Persian language. Sweet Sorrows is the first compilation of Attar’s lesser-known works in English. The translator, Vraje Abramian, has selected 350 short verses that cover a wide range of Attar’s poetic moods—from somewhat satirical and humorous to tender and heartbreaking. Born in 1119, Attar lived in infamously chaotic times when petty warlords never relented, and famine and disease were the order of the day. He was killed in 1221 during the utter destruction of his hometown of Rey at the hands of invading Mongol hoards. The value of Attar’s influence as a beacon of light during these times cannot be overestimated. He always seems to be focused on his belief in basic human goodness. Attar insisted that the individual should concentrate on refining his or her sensitivities in order to escape ignorance and become worthy of being called a “human being.” Many generations since Attar have taken refuge in his writings to strengthen their faith to choose what cannot be seen, over all that can.