The Dervish Gate is more than just a thriller, it is a book of secrets. The secret of a passion spanning over seven centuries: a flame first lit between Jelalledin Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. The secret behind a seven hundred year old crime: the murder of Shams of Tabriz. Ahmet Umit&'s use of rich, layered language combined with liberal elements of fantasy strikes a unique chord as he asks intriguing questions on religion and the beliefs of Mevlevi Sufism. With a fresh new perspective, he lays bare the relationship between people and religion, passion and faith, which holds true as much today as it did seven hundred years ago... "There was blood on the stone, a full moon in the sky, the scent of earth in the garden. They were swimming, the trees, in an unsettling chill. It was the time of burgeoning winter roses, the season when the narcissus was in full bloom. Seven men came forth in the garden. Seven wrathful hearts, seven minds seized by hatred, seven finely-honed knives. Seven accursed men trod the space, slicing into seven sections the silence of the garden, toward the wooden door where the victim was unearthed."
Author
Ahmet Ümit was born in 1960 in the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. He moved to Istanbul in 1978 to attend university. In 1983 he both graduated from the Public Administration Faculty of Marmara University and wrote his very first story. An active member of the Turkish Communist Party from 1974 until 1989 Ümit took part in the underground movement for democracy while Turkey was under the rule of a military dictatorship between 1980-1990. In 1985-86 he illegally attended the Academy for Social Sciences in Moscow. Ümit worked in the advertising sector from 1989-1998 and is currently employed as cultural advisor at the Goethe Foundation in Istanbul. He has one daughter Gül. Since 1989 Ümit has published one volume of poetry three volumes of short stories a book of fairytales one novella and six novels. One of Turkey’s most renowned contemporary authors Ümit is especially well-known for his mastery of the mystery genre as reflected in many of his bestselling novels and short story volumes. Drawing upon the unique political and historical background of his home country Ümit delves into the psyches of his well-wrought characters as he weaves enthralling tales of murder and political intrigue.
