The Golden Throne

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.