"Europe is in the grip of the Dark Ages, but there is a light in the dark: Baghdad. The great city has become a center of learning, populated by scholars, merchants, and explorers from all across the known world. But danger lurks in the desert ... and Dak, Sera, and Riq must act fast to save the world's greatest library from utter destruction."--

Teenage princess Jayden has left her tribe and is alone in the desert, seeking her beloved prince Kadesh and trying to evade her evil fiancé, Horeb. When she eventually finds Kadesh, he has been badly injured and scarred, but more ominously, he appears to be keeping secrets from her. Kadesh, Jayden, and the Edomites travel toward Jayden's home kingdom in the southern lands, but they face constant danger from Horeb's army and from the desert itself....

Alia is chief librarian of Basra Central Libray in Iraq. When war breaks out, Alia does all she can to save the books that chronicle the history and culture of her country.

Supporting Kadesh's ascension to the throne after tragedy strikes on what was to have been their wedding day, Jayden finds their circumstances further complicated by the schemes of dark priestess Aliyah and the return of her former betrothed, Horeb.

For forty-two days in 1991, eleven-year-old Ali Fadhil and his family struggle to survive as Basra, Iraq, is bombed by the United States and its allies.

Ishaq, the son of the chief translator to the Caliph of ancient Baghdad, travels the world in search of precious books and manuscripts and brings them back to the great library known as the House of Wisdom.

Guided by a magic rhyme, Jack and Annie travel to ancient Baghdad on a mission to help the Caliph disseminate wisdom to the world.