Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love

In sometimes poetic, though sometimes prosaic and workmanlike, prose, Gooch (Smash Cut) provides an in-depth biography of Rumi, the great Sufi poet. He begins the book as he is retracing Rumi’s footsteps in Aleppo in 2011, just before the outbreak of civil war, and is told by a resident that, “like your American poet Whitman,” Rumi was a great poet because he never revealed his secret. Drawing deeply on Rumi’s own writing, Gooch clearly recreates the life and times of this 13th-century mystic. Born on September 30, 1207, in present-day Tajikistan, Rumi soon showed his life would not be an ordinary one: when he was just five years old he reported seeing angels. His family set out on the road when he was still young, and Rumi met a pivotal influence, the poet Attar. As he grew in poetic stature, Rumi encountered the mystic Shams of Tabriz, who became a venerated teacher and taught Rumi the religion of the heart that became his own hallmark. In a close reading of Rumi’s poetry, Gooch quotes two lines to reveal the titular secret: “explanations make many things clear/but only love is clear in silence.” Gooch’s biography can be plodding, but the story it tells is fascinating enough to compel readers to pick up Rumi’s poetry and discover his secret for themselves. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Jan.)