The Lion House

Poised effortlessly between two worlds and two ages, a book as pungent and mysterious as the age it depicts

RORY STEWART, former British Cabinet Minister and author of The Places In Between

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, Nobel Laureate in Literature

Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand political ambition and the role of narcissistic leaders and scheming courtiers in any age

ROBERT PESTON, Political Editor ITV News

Non-fiction with the readability of a thriller. Unputdownable

VICTORIA HISLOP, author of The Island

De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of Suleyman's quest for power

PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads

Sensuous and scholarly, meticulously researched and deliciously irreverent, The Lion House is an intoxicating journey through the Ottomans' golden age

AMBERIN ZAMAN, correspondent, Al-Monitor, Turkey correspondent for the Economist (1999-2016) and Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Full of breath-taking events at the cross-roads of empires at a moment in history when notions such as Europe, Asia, Christianity and Islam were infinitely more fluid and permeable than they are today

KEREM OKTEM, Professor of International Relations at Ca' Foscari University, Venice

The Lion House presents a historical universe that captivates and astonishes and is near-impossible to put down. A superb example of historical literature and research

RICHARD WHATMORE, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews

Narrated with a verve and flair that make the characters burst from the pages. Outstanding history and an incredibly good read

EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Fall of the Ottomans

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, author of The Island of Missing Trees

Reads like the most gripping fiction ... could very well be Netflix's next epic

Radio Times

An urgent, immersive, present-tense gallop ... the book reads as a non-fiction novel ... cinematically vivid tableaux ... Each spangled scene ... rests on a solid foundation in the primary sources ... De Bellaigue enriches his storytelling with the colourful, meticulous dispatches of its traders, envoys and spies ... behind the bejewelled descriptive prose a thumping pulse of action tugs us through ... de Bellaigue's glittering, deft and often witty prose adds pleasure to each page

Financial Times

Luminous, erudite ... a gripping account that evokes an epic poem, saga or 'book of kings' ... It is as immersive as the blurb claims, conjuring the world of the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia and south-eastern Europe in the early 16th century with the limpid clarity of the many gems that stud its pages ... Even more than the detail, it is the characters that intrigue and often inspire ... The book leaves the reader with Suleiman truly magnificent

Spectator

Those lucky readers who come to Christopher de Bellaigue's book in proximity to reading Mantel can suddenly have a new panel thrown open to them like an unfolding altarpiece ... all written in the present tense. This creates the obvious sense of liveliness and urgency ... Bellaigue sets about the task with such confidence and skill that it works ... a dazzling and dark work. Witty and often wise, it speaks to the frailties and the precarity of power

David Aaronovitch, The Times

An exhilarating read

Rose Shepherd, Saga Magazine

This account really grips... it does so by bringing out the fascinating individuals, the adventure, the lurid details, the barbarities, the opulence and squalor and near misses of the story

Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard

Readers used to de Bellaigue's elegant prose will find much to admire in these pages. His command of his main characters and his grip of the wider history in which they wage their wars and plot their rivals' demise is never less than sure-footed... thoroughly gripping

Justin Marozzi, Sunday Times

Original... de Bellaigue... offers a vivid presentation of events, re-imagined as scenes and episodes... a different, literary kind [of history]

Noel Malcolm, Times Literary Supplement

History at its most gripping ... This vivid study of Suleyman the Magnificent is as enthralling as fiction

The Sunday Times

Ambitious and original ... This is history, but not as we know it. It is non-fiction posing as a novel, rich in incident and cinematic detail ... it's tremendous

Justin Marozzi, The Sunday Times

Vivid and compelling

Economist