Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of five 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 in the 1990s and 2000s, he covered the politics and
invasions that shaped Turkey, the Middle East and South Asia for,
among others, the Economist, Guardian and New York Review of Books.
He has also made television and radio programmes and has lectured
at universities and in boardrooms around the world.
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*
The most daring history book of the year ... told in the present
tense with all the dash and flair of a novel. The research is
faultless: we are immersed ... it brilliantly conveys a sense of
colour and momentum, placing the reader in the thick of the action.
Unforgettable
*The Times & Sunday Times Best Books of 2022*
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
*Sunday 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*
Mesmerising . . . steeped in the sensuous detail of banquet and
ceremony, stratagem and conspiracy
*Colin Thubron*
A brilliantly written account of the Ottoman empire in all its
opulence and brutality. Rich in colourful historical anecdotes, de
Bellaigue brings 16th-century statecraft vividly alive, and offers
a chilling insight into the ruthlessness and loneliness of one of
the most powerful men of the age
*Guardian*
A vivid, cinematic account of the rise of Suleyman the Magnificent
... de Bellaigue follows with exhilarating clarity and suspense the
era's broader battles across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle
East, and the individual trajectories - grand ambitions, rivalries,
betrayals - of these outsiders in Suleyman's court, a place rife
with intrigue and back-stabbing, rich with colourful characters
*Harper's*
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
*The Times*
Vivid and compelling ... He presents his story like a novel, but it
is not fiction; every detail has been diligently researched, for
example by perusing diaries in difficult Venetian dialect ...
Whether he is describing a lavish dinner for Italian merchants on
the Bosporus, the stately progress of Suleiman's armies through the
Balkans or a mass circumcision, he has an eye for the colourful,
absurd and ironic ... As this book shows, living in the penumbra of
such supreme power can be seductive and intoxicating. But the end
of the story is often tragic
*Economist*
Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most
gripping
*Daily Telegraph*
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
*Evening Standard*
Poised effortlessly between two worlds and two ages, a book as
pungent and mysterious as the age it depicts
*RORY STEWART*
A complex piece of history told with extraordinary clarity
*Spectator, *Best Books of 2022**
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*
Gripping, novelistic ... brisk and muscular ... written in a
sure-footed historical present, the book creates a simulacrum of
the 16th century through the painstaking accumulation of attested
details ... [giving] the book its vividness and energy ... [De
Bellaigue] writes with supreme confidence about power, diplomacy,
clothing, avarice, war, statecraft and the exceptional brutality of
the era ... While The Lion House unfolds like a novel, through
scenes rich with authenticating detail
*The New York Times Book Review*
De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of
Suleyman's quest for power
*PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads*
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*
Exquisite ... So arresting is this book, so enveloping in the
tensions of its narrative, that most readers will feel a pang of
sorrow that the tale does not run on. The Lion House leaves us with
a tease, or taunt: "Who, apart from God, can say what will come
next?" A sequel, surely. Although it was the peak of the Ottoman
Empire, Suleyman's reign also offers clear glimpses of a great
decline to come. Who better to tell us about it than Mr de
Bellaigue?
*Wall Street Journal*
Non-fiction with the readability of a thriller. Unputdownable
*VICTORIA HISLOP, author of The Island*
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*
Reads like the most gripping fiction ... could very well be
Netflix's next epic
*Radio Times*
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*
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*
Original... de Bellaigue... offers a vivid presentation of events,
re-imagined as scenes and episodes... a different, literary kind
[of history]
*Times Literary Supplement*
De Bellaigue writes with impecable scholarship, piecing together
contemporary accounts to create a thrilling narrative
*Church Times*
De Bellaigue is an expert stylist, sensitive to rhythm and
vocabulary, and passionate in his pursuit of the fugitive detail
that gives meaning to a whole episode
*Literary Review*
An exhilarating read
*Saga Magazine*
An engrossing book... This is history turned into drama and poetry,
awesomely spectacular yet also intensely intimate
*iNews*
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