The Map of Love

Anna writes in her diary about her impending marriage to Sharif and describes how she came to meet him and accept his declaration of love. Their conversation is at first fraught: Sharif immediately proposes to Anna, while she’s expecting a slightly gentler courtship. They nevertheless agree that they want to marry. They must wait for a particular sheik to return from a journey, as no one else, Sharif says, will be brave enough to marry them. Anna reflects that this marriage will be a big shock to her social circle.

From this diary entry, we return to Amal, who has been caught up in Anna’s narrative again. She reports that Isabel has left and muses on Isabel’s story of the visit to the shrine in the courtyard, finding it hard to believe. They’d visited the shrine together the next day and found it locked and cobwebby, with no trace of the people Isabel said she’d met. Amal resolves to call Omar and talk to him about Isabel.

Back in 1901, Anna writes a series of letters to Sir Charles, at first dishonest, then cautiously introducing the subject of Sharif.