The blue manuscript

the long version

The Blue Manuscript is the ultimate prize for any collector of Islamic treasures. But does it still exist, and if so, can it be found? In search of answers to these questions, an assortment of archaeologists heads for a remote area of Egypt, where they work with local villagers to excavate a promising site. Interspersed with the testimony of the early medieval calligrapher who created the Manuscript, this narrative builds into a rich tapestry of love, hope, despair, greed, fear and betrayal, intensified at every turn by the uneasy relationship between Islam past and present, and between Islam and the West.