A bored housewife Azalea, of Indian origin, feels empty despite her comfortable suburban life in Toronto, Canada. Sweet Blasphemy, the novel she is asked to appraise for her new job, introduces her to Sufism and has life-changing consequences. The novel tells the story of a 13th-century wandering Persian Sufi Dervish, Shams of Tabriz, and of his inspirational relationship with Rumi, one of the greatest poets of the Sufi canon.
The way Rumi was transformed from being a respected Koranic scholar to a dervish weaving poetry, the mythic and the miraculous, practiced through poetry, music and dance, Azalea finds in it, contextual parallels with her own life and goes on getting deeper with her bonding with both – the writer of the novel, Aziz, and with Shams and Rumi, interweaving their combined quest for beauty, love and fulfilment in everyday life.