In the desert, a thief throws himself from a cliff-top, a stolen saddlebag clutched in his arms. As he plunges to his death, the body of the falling man describes an arc, black against the brilliant blue of the desert sky.
'The Saddlebag' is the tantilising tale of what befalls nine different individuals as they travel the desert route between Mecca and Medina in the middle of the nineteenth century. Each encounters, and each is changed by, a mysterious saddlebag. It seems a perfectly ordinary saddlebag when the thief steals it from a pilgrim. But what are its contents, so precious and so powerful that they can wreak death or joy, ruin or salvation?
During the twenty-four hours after the saddlebag's theft, the lives of the people who come into contact with it intertwine to create a circular and eternal story.
With each thread of the narrative another knot unravels, another life resolves, along the Chinese Silk Route and in India and Iran, Constantinople and London. With vibrant language, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani weaves an unforgettable tapestry, in a first novel of rare beauty, originality and power.
