Deserts and Mountains: A Novel

Ali Dogan is an expatriate Turk who has been living and working in Canada for twenty years. Although he loves his children, Emre and Maria, he feels he must leave. His twelve-year marriage to Esther has soured, and his Sufi spiritual counselor has suggested that he seek the knowledge to understand what the heart will tell him. Ali is not sure he will return to Canada, Esther, and his children. He embarks on a journey to settle his mid-life crisis. Ali's first stop is his parents' village in Turkey, where he begins to confront a history of abuse. In Istanbul, he faces the brutality behind the facade of modern Turkey. In Greece, the Acropolis shows him an idealized world. In Africa, humanitarian work aims to change the future. And back in Canada, he finds new understanding of his childhood, as well as his future. Each of these events leads him to ever deeper inquiry, which is reflected in his journal entries. Throughout his physical journey, Ali also travels an inner path to a more profound understanding of the spiritual tradition of Sufism. There may be a richer and more meaningful philosophy shaping Ali's future.