The saddlebag

"The Saddlebag is the tantalizing tale of what befalls nine different individuals as they travel the desert route between Mecca and Medina in the middle of the nineteenth century. Each encounters, and each is changed by, a mysterious saddlebag. It seems a perfectly ordinary saddlebag when the Thief steals it from a Pilgrim. But what are its contents, so precious and so powerful that they can wreak death or joy, ruin or salvation?" "During the twenty-four hours after the saddlebag's theft, the lives of the people who come into contact with it intertwine to create a circular and eternal story."--BOOK JACKET.