Khaled is a hard-working and faithful genie who, in his zeal, goes a little too far and kills a faithless man. This puts him under scrutiny from the powers above, who curse him to live as a human. Since genies have no souls, he will vanish from existence when he dies; but, if he can find true love, he’ll be granted a soul and thus be allowed into heaven.

Written in the style of the “oriental romances” popular in those days, Khaled was F. Marion Crawford’s favorite novel out of all of the ones he wrote in his successful career.