He could have had any woman in the empire. He wanted only one.
He had everything a man might dream of; wealth, power and the choice of hundreds of the most beautiful women in his Empire. Why then did he forsake his harem for the love of just one woman, and marry her in defiance of the centuries-old code of the Osmanlis?
This is the astonishing story of Süleyman, the one they called the Magnificent, and the woman he loved.
Despite its luxury, his harem was virtually a prison. For one of his concubines, the only way to a better life was to somehow find her way into his bed and bear him a son.
From medieval Venice to the slave markets of Algiers, from the mountains of Persia to the forbidden seraglio of the Ottoman’s greatest sultan, this is a tale of passion and intrigue in a world where nothing is really as it seems.
“ …a spectacular, haunting tale of malice, obsession, and zeal set in the magnificent Harem of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent …” - History and Women
“A page-turner . . . This peek behind the walls of the seraglio will seduce lovers of large-scale historical fiction.” - Booklist