Few people know that Rumi, the best-selling poet in America, is the father of the Mevlevi 'whirling dervish' tradition. Perhaps fewer people know that some of his closest disciples were women, and that those women were given the essence of the practice.

Now, after centuries, women are able to return to the Path of Rumi. The heart of this book is the personal experience of women in more than two dozen interviews that span three generations and all levels of devotion.

How is a woman called from ordinary life to be a Dervish? Is Rumi's teaching alive within the community of these groups? Answering these questions within the context of the story of Rumi's path itself - from his death in the 14th century to the present - readers will discover the pulse of a living tradition.