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A ground-breaking, present-tense reconstruction of the life and world of one of the most consequential figures in world history, Suleyman the Magnificent, from the author of The Lion House

Chosen by The Times, Guardian and Financial Times as a 'Book to Look Out For' in 2025

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 an intensely gripping yet entirely historical reconstruction of the life and world of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century, revealing the price of succession and the terrible cost of success.

'Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire . . . History at its most gripping' Daily Telegraph on The Lion House

‘A wonderful book – entrancing, addictive, full of effortless erudition’ Rory Stewart

‘The pace, the language and the story-telling are simply magnificent’ Victoria Hislop

‘Thrilling entertainment created out of meticulously researched history’ Robert Peston

‘Mesmerizing in their drama, superb in their history, unique in their sweep, Christopher de Bellaigue’s two volumes are impossible to put down' Simon Sebag Montefiore

© Christopher de Bellaigue 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025