The Golden Throne

Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping

Telegraph on The Lion House

The most daring history book of the year. Unforgettable

Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times on The Lion House

There are books that enlarge the mind, there are books that enrich the soul, but rarely comes a book so beautifully-written and profound that it manages to do both

Elif Shafak on The Lion House

Christopher de Bellaigue has a magic talent for writing history It is as if we are there as the era of Suleyman the Magnificent unfolds

Orhan Pamuk on The Lion House

Christopher de Bellaigue creates thrilling entertainment out of meticulously researched history

Robert Peston

The pace, the language and the story-telling are simply magnificent

Victoria Hislop

Imagine the Shakespeare history plays mixed up with Suetonius and throw in the reports of sharp-eyed Muslim chroniclers and wily European ambassadors, and you will get a sense of what Christopher de Bellaigue’s The Golden Throne is like. Wonderful and highly enjoyable

Margaret MacMillan

A wonderful book – entrancing, addictive, full of effortless erudition

Rory Stewart

What a delight! Mesmerizing in their compelling drama of the power, the opulence and the fear at the court of the Ottomans, superb in their history, vivid in their novelistic portrait of personalities, unique in their sweep from the Doge's palace to the Sublime Porte, Christopher de Bellaigue's two volumes, The Lion House and The Golden Throne, are impossible to put down and bring to life the rise and reign of Suleiman the Magnificent like nothing else

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Absolutely spectacular. A book that brings the worlds of the Ottomans – and a lot more besides – to life. A triumph

Peter Frankopan

De Bellaigue is at the top of his game. He has made the most captivating Ottoman sultan his own. A thunderously good read

Justin Marozzi

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs … In The Golden Throne, Christopher de Bellaigue vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory … Gripping ... An enormously entertaining account of Suleyman the Magnificent’s middle years

The Times

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory

The Times

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed

Pratinav Anil, The Times *Book of the Week*

Epic Mediterranean naval conflicts . . . dangerous realpolitik that creates then murderously shatters alliances . . . At the centre of this web of global political intrigue sits the inscrutable Suleiman . . . [and] the sultan’s attempt to balance his geopolitical scheming with his complex family life akin to a Turkish version of Succession

Financial Times

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the written records, he deploys the skills of the novelist to bring the archive thrillingly to life

Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

Fascinating . . . glittering . . . de Bellaigue swoops through the three-dimensional chess game that was European geopolitics in the mid-16th century with airy confidence

Katie Hickman, Literary Review

Galloping, novelistic . . . This is not a book simply about dynastic succession . . . The Ottomans were the menacing other that occupied the thoughts of every monarch across the continent. The winner in this game of thrones mattered to them too

Michael Prodger, New Statesman

Sparkling . . . saturated with vivid colour and detail . . . puts the reader directly onto battlefields, inside council chambers and often at the heart of Suleyman’s thought processes . . . the dramatic details have an uncanny power of sticking in one’s mind

Andrew Lycett, Spectator

Narrative non-fiction with all the verve of an immersive novel . . . propulsive . . . pacy . . . the worrisome question of who should inherit his throne . . . unleash[es] murderous mayhem in the royal family

Daily Mail

Christopher de Bellaigue's second volume of his trilogy on Suleiman the Magnificent is as gripping as the first, which is saying something. The nature of the Ottoman autocracy was so grim and the character of Suleiman so terrifying that our author doesn't have to make anything up to produce a terrific story. He just makes the most of it

Evening Standard

Reading The Golden Throne has been a joy . . . Written in the present tense, with novelistic flair, we get a ringside seat of diplomatic manoeuverings, sea battles against the Holy League and peek inside his harem. There are stranglings and political marriages galore . . . I’m in awe of de Bellaigue’s imagination and skill in distilling a huge amount of research into a witty, fleet-footed narrative

Robbie Millen, The Times