“A twelfth-century geographer al-Idrisi had been told by his father of the twelve calligraphers who transcribed Arabic translations of al-Homa’s poetry, working under conditions of such secrecy that if they were even to reveal the nature of their work, ‘the executioner’s scimitar, in a lightning flash, would detach head from body.’ But one of the calligraphers, undaunted, copied out parts of both al-Homa’s poems and sent them to his family in Damascus, along with the information that the complete manuscripts were in secret compartments in the library of Palermo. Generations later, al-Idrisi finds himself in the library at Palermo and, of course, discovers the secret compartment … Whether the subject is heretical poetry, the disunity of the Arabs or the threat that laughter poses to those in power, these digressions only add to the richness of the novel’s texture. A marvelously paced and boisterously told novel of intrigue, love, insurrection and manipulation.”

– Guardian