"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"--p.[4] of cover.

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.

A restless merchant recounts his seven voyages to an unhappy porter.