The Sufi Storyteller

Pakistani writer Mansab’s first novel to be published in the U.S. features Layla Rashid, a scholar of Sufi storytelling traditions who was adopted from an orphanage as a child and has spent part of her life trying to find her birth mother. Layla’s search has led her to a teaching position at a small college in the American Midwest, where one morning, she finds the dead body of a woman in her office. Even more shocking is that it’s the second time this has happened to Layla. As the story unfurls, Layla’s quest to solve the two murders intertwines with her search for her birth mother. Sufi fables often convey messages as stories within a story; Layla’s expertise could help her find some answers. Though the novel offers an interesting premise, the writing is often bogged down with excessive detail about settings, food, and interactions among characters while leaving out crucial explanations of events.