Lion House
An immersive reconstruction of the life of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century.
'Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping' Telegraph
'A formidable book ... incredible' Rory Stewart
Venice, 1522. Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on its throat.
From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe and the scorched coasts of north Africa, The Lion House tells the true story of two civilisations in an existential duel and the rise of the most feared man of the sixteenth century. It is a tale of the timeless pull of power, dangerous to live with, deadly to live without.
'The most daring history book of the year. Unforgettable' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'An urgent, immersive, present-tense gallop ... behind the bejewelled descriptive prose a thumping pulse of action tugs us through' Financial Times
'Luminous ... gripping ... truly magnificent' Spectator
Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House: The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous 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 he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.
www.christopherdebellaigue.com