The Lion House
Suleyman the Magnificent is the most famous of all Ottoman Sultans, but who was he and what was the secret of his world-conquering success? In The Lion House Christopher deploys the story-telling skills and psychological insights of a novelist to chronicle the rise of young Suleyman, the chancers and opportunists who rose with him and the epic struggle he conducted against the Hapsburg Empire of his sworn enemy Charles V. From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe and the scorched coasts of North Africa, The Lion House pioneers a new style of eye-witness history to tell a true story of power at its most glittering, personal and perilous.
‘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.
Named a Book of the Year by the New Yorker, the Times, the Sunday Times, the Spectator and the Independent.