Samarkand is the Persia of Omar Khayyam—poet of wine, free thinker, and brilliant astronomer—but also that of Hassan Sabbah, founder of the Order of the Assassins, the most fearsome sect in history. Samarkand is the Orient of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a journey into a world where dreams of freedom have always defied fanaticism. Samarkand is the adventure of a manuscript that, created in the eleventh century and lost during the Mongol invasions, was rediscovered centuries later. Amin Maalouf, author of *Léon l’Africain* and *The Rock of Tanios*, takes us along the Silk Road through Asia’s most enchanting cities and captivates us with his extraordinary storytelling talent.