Life is beautiful, but it comes with pain. To take control, one must understand the world and dare to explore opportunities. Love fuels the courage needed to take those leaps of faith, transforming pain into growth and turning the naive into the wise.

Cy, the protagonist and sometimes narrator of this novel, embodies this journey. Raised in a middle-class family in Mashhad, Iran, he was a shy, studious teenager focused on university admission and basketball—his lifelong passion.

In childhood, Cy was close to Shery, a girl from his neighborhood who later developed feelings for him. However, her desire for wealth often clashed with her love for Cy. She carried his memory—and a secret—for nearly 20 years.

Cy’s university years were filled with adventure, including run-ins with the secret police and a romance with a fellow student. He later built a successful export-import business in Iran before becoming director of an international trade center in Washington, D.C. Eventually, he transitioned to academia, teaching in the Maastricht MBA program in the Netherlands, where he enjoyed a happy 19-year marriage.

When life shifted in Belgium, Cy retired and returned to the U.S. After some time in Manhattan, he moved to a Pennsylvania farm, where he immersed himself in gardening, history, philosophy, and poetry.

Travel became his new passion, leading him to over 50 countries. In Samarkand, he met Laila, a married woman with two daughters and an abusive husband. She saw Cy as a mentor, savior, and lover in cyberspace.

As Professor Baylor remarked, “Cy is both perplexed and delighted by the love affairs that shaped his life. The novel’s exploration of love’s mysterious nature is one of its greatest strengths.”

The story concludes with three days of celebrations on Cy’s Pennsylvania farm, marking the culmination of a life filled with love, struggle, and transformation.