Adolf Holl's divine biography examines the life of the Holy Spirit in the context of the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Interweaving scholarship with religion, myth, and culture, Holl expertly traces the influence of the Holy Spirit on men and women from all walks of life, down the centuries. The result is quite unlike anything written before.

The Jews recognized the Holy Spirit as the breath of God. He motivated a few Galilean fishermen to find the courage to preach a new world religion. Mohammed was inspired by him in the dictation of the Koran. Yet this same spirit has...

"Surprisingly tender." -- The New York Times Book Review. Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples: Mohsen, who comes from a family of wealthy shopkeepers whom the Taliban has destroyed; Zunaira, his wife, exceedingly beautiful, who was once a brilliant teacher and is now no longer allowed to leave her home without an escort or covering her face. Intersecting their world is Atiq, a prison keeper, a man who has sincerely adopted the Taliban ideology and struggles to keep his faith, and his wife, Musarrat, who...

Called to the hospital when his fifteen-year-old daughter, Angela, is injured in a potentially fatal accident, a prominent surgeon sits and waits, silently confessing the affair he had the year Angela was born. As Timoteo s tale begins, he s driving to the beach house where his beautiful, accomplished wife, Elsa, is waiting. Car trouble forces him to make a detour into a dingy suburb, where he meets Italia unattractive, unpolished, working-class who awakens a part of him he scarcely recognizes. Disenchanted with his stable life, he seizes the chance to act without consequences, and their...