SHIRAZ A Novel/Biography of the Life, Poetry and Times of Hafiz, the Immortal Persian Poet. BOOK ONE: THE EARLY YEARS by Paul Smith This long, historical three volume novel/biography covers Hafiz's life from the age of eight in 1328 when his father dies and he goes to live with his Uncle Sadi, until after his passing in 1392. Shiraz is under siege by the tyrant Mubariz and Hafiz's friend the king, Abu Ishak, is on the brink of madness and despair. Hafez falls in love with the beautiful Nabat, meets his Spiritual Master 'Attar, marries and has a son. He teaches at university and befriends the liberated princess Jahan Khatun and the poet/jester Obeyd Zakani. He experiences the people of his beloved city throwing out dictators, and the wrath of the false Sufi and black magician Shaikh Ali Kolah. Abu Ishak is executed. Eventually Shah Shuja takes control but tragedy strikes Hafiz and Jahan, and Nabat must suffer separation. Kingdoms rise and fall through treachery and wars but through it all the songs/ghazals of Hafiz and his minstrel friends help the brave Shirazis to carry on. A book of immense love and power, humour, tragedy, music and poetry, faith and bravery. 820 pages. 7" x 10" Large Format Edition. Goethe: "In his poetry Hafiz inscribed undeniable truth indelibly! He has no peer!"Gertrude Bell: "It is as if his mental Eye, endowed with wonderful acuteness of vision, had penetrated into those provinces of thought which we of a later age were destined to inhabit."Meher Baba: "There is no equal to Hafiz in poetry. He was a Perfect Master!"COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of works into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, 'Iraqi, Makhfi, Hallaj. 'Ibn al-Farid and many others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies and a dozen screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa