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The Golden Throne

The Curse of a King
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( 63 ratings, 6 reviews)
Brief Description
An immersive reconstruction of the life of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century, from the author of The Lion House. Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinnacle of world power, while his family and future are at... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4000
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An immersive reconstruction of the life of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century, from the author of The Lion House.

Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinnacle of world power, while his family and future are at the mercy of their own dynastic law—whichever of his five sons succeeds him must eventually kill all the others, so why not get a head start?

For the next fifteen years, as Suleyman the Magnificent and his terrifying pirate captain Barbarossa face down imperial enemies across two hemispheres, the self-fulfilling curse of the Ottomans gathers its own unstoppable momentum.

From the burning pyres of Paris to the rain-lashed mountains of Transylvania, from Buda to Basra, from Crimea to the coast of India, The Golden Throne is a globe-spanning, ground-breaking reconstruction of the life and world of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century.

Intensely gripping yet entirely historical, it places us in the room with many of the key figures of the era—the conceited, wide-jawed Holy Roman Emperor; the untrustworthy, primping King of France; a leering, beer-soaked Martin Luther—showing them consumed with fury and hurt, venomous yet vulnerable. And it is here, behind closed doors, that we witness Suleyman's beloved wife Hurrem waging pitiless war against his eldest son, born to her predecessor in the Sultan's bed, culminating in a chilling act that will define Suleyman's legacy.

The Golden Throne shows us one of the greatest yet least understood figures in history as never before. It is an epic yet intimate drama of personal power wielded with world-shaping consequences, revealing both the price of succession and the terrible cost of success.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781847927439

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 March 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: The Bodley Head Ltd

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 334g

Pages: 272

About the Author

Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House- The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous books, including The Islamic Enlightenment, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017. As a reporter he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. www.christopherdebellaigue.com

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  • The Lion House
    Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping' Telegraph Venice, 1522. Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on its throat. From the palaces...
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