- Published: 16 March 2022
- ISBN: 9781847922403
- Imprint: Bodley Head
- Format: Trade Paperback
- Pages: 320
- RRP: $40.00
The Lion House
The Coming of a King
- Published: 16 March 2022
- ISBN: 9781847922403
- Imprint: Bodley Head
- Format: Trade Paperback
- Pages: 320
- RRP: $40.00
Poised effortlessly between two worlds and two ages, a book as pungent and mysterious as the age it depicts
RORY STEWART, former British Cabinet Minister and author of The Places In Between
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
Non-fiction with the readability of a thriller. Unputdownable
VICTORIA HISLOP, author of The Island
De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of Suleyman's quest for power
PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads
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
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
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
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
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
Reads like the most gripping fiction ... could very well be Netflix's next epic
Radio 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
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
David Aaronovitch, The Times
Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping
Daily Telegraph
An exhilarating read
Rose Shepherd, Saga Magazine
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
Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard
Original... de Bellaigue... offers a vivid presentation of events, re-imagined as scenes and episodes... a different, literary kind [of history]
Noel Malcolm, Times Literary Supplement
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
Justin Marozzi, Sunday 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
A complex piece of history told with extraordinary clarity
Spectator, *Best Books of 2022*
De Bellaigue writes with impecable scholarship, piecing together contemporary accounts to create a thrilling narrative
Church Times
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
Dominic Sandbrook, The Times & Sunday Times Best Books of 2022
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
Marcel Theroux, The New York Times Book Review
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 engrossing book... This is history turned into drama and poetry, awesomely spectacular yet also intensely intimate
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, iNews
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
Mesmerising . . . steeped in the sensuous detail of banquet and ceremony, stratagem and conspiracy
Colin Thubron
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
Claire Messud, Harper's
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
The world of Suleyman the Magnificent...is brought to life in this history
The Times, *The Year’s Top 50 Non-Fiction Books*