The Unraveling . . . of the Rug Merchants

About the Book

Her head is spinning faster than a whirling dervish’s. Yet, Christen, the owner of the Galleria Persian Arts in the New Orlean’s iconic French Quarter, is caught up in doing what is fun versus doing what is right. Her intuition is good; it tells her that this man might be trouble. He looks like Omar Shariff, knows Persian rugs, and acts like he can sell a lot of them. Her sensual nature wants to hire him on the spot. Her Catholic Blessed Mother upbringing cautions her to be careful. The Unraveling … of the Rug Merchants recounts the undoing of 44- year-old Polish Catholic Christen Janizeski, by hiring Jamshid Khafezi, an exiled Sufi mystic and Moslem rug merchant as her manager. Booklovers take a metaphorical magic carpet ride around the Islamic World where they are privy to honest bohemian introspective chit chat from paradoxical cultural perspectives. They meet exotic characters when they are taken into native homes and bustling bazaars where they listen in on indigenous conversations and intuit the consequence of forbidden love and sexual intrigue. Readers witness a collision of remarkable characters and worlds as this is at once an extraordinary story of two people who are about to discover who they really are and an unforgettable look into the impact of poor Ohio Valley coal mining country and the stunning culture of Islam.

About the Author

Janice Zalewski owned and operated several Persian carpet businesses and conducted exhibitions, lectures and seminars throughout the US. Zalewski is a rug scholar and an authority who has learned the idiosyncrasies of conducting business in many countries and cultures. She presented her Walking on Heirs seminars at Artworks Around Town, The Oglebay’s Mansion Museum and N.C. State University, etc.. She is also featured in the PBS Series, Art Underfoot. . . in the segment entitled -- Wholesalers: Integrity and Savvy, The Art of Doing Business.