In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the only surviving witness. Easily led and eager to please, his recollections weave around others' hopes and expectations, until he loses track of what really happened that day.

Lauded as a hero, Nate is unable to reconcile his public profile with what he knows really happened.

Gifted with a mind that continues to impress the elders in his village, Ichmad Hamid struggles with the knowledge that he can do nothing to save his friends and family. Living on occupied land, his entire village operates in constant fear of losing their homes, jobs, and belongings. But more importantly, they fear losing each other.

The Knot in the Rug encapsulates the massive upheavals of the first half of twentieth century from a point of view that the English-speaking readership rarely glimpses.

The book’s heroine, Khanoum, is born in the courts of Persia’s Qajar dynasty. The twists and turns in Khanoum’s life make for a gripping read, whilst at the same time shedding light on traditional Persian customs of birth, marriage and death, still followed in modern-day Iran.

This stunning novel brings to life the enthralling world of Cyrus the Great, the leader of Ancient Persia – the world’s first great empire – and the life and times of Cyrus himself, a magnificent leader whose passion won the hearts of his subjects and of two extraordinary women –  the wildly beautiful warrior Roshan and the exquisite Cassadane.