The Lion House

Reviews

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 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 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 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 Mesmerising . . . steeped in the sensuous detail of banquet and ceremony, stratagem and conspiracy 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 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 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 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 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 Expand reviews