Foreword / Mary Gaitskill -- Shahrayar and Shahrazad -- The fisherman and the jinni -- The porter and the three ladies -- The first dervish -- The second dervish -- The third dervish -- The first merchant -- The hunchback -- The mistress of the house's tale -- The doorkeeper's tale -- The shopper's tale -- The reaction of the caliph -- Dalila the wily -- The demon's wife -- The woman and her five lovers -- Budur and qamal al-zaman -- Zumurrud and Nur al-Din -- The fourth voyage of Sindbad the sailor -- The resolution of the porter and the three ladies.

An evocative reimagining of nineteen tales from the classic story about young queen Shahrazad's efforts to save her life from a brutal husband focuses on female characters at the heart of each tale in a woven sequence that incorporates humor and sensuality.

Erotic, brutal, witty and poetic, One Thousand and One Nights are the never-ending stories told by the young Shahrazad under sentence of death to King Shahrayar. Maddened by the discovery of his wife's orgies, King Shahrayar believes all women are unfaithful and vows to marry a virgin every night and kill her in the morning.