This gripping novel carries the reader back into the 16th century and the opulence of the empire that ruled the civilized world for several centuries from its Turkish center. The lives of three people—the Emperor Suleyman and two former slaves (his wife Hürrem and his Greek Prime Minister Ibrahim)— become intertwined in a lifetime of passion, conflict, conquest and defeat that was the political motor force of European, African and Middle Eastern history. It would end with murder in a fit of violent jealousy. Louis Gardel's style is as stark as the emotions of his main characters and the society and time in which they lived. Cruel practices ruled this center of power, where the victors often physically eliminated not only their rivals but also all of their rivals' male relatives to forestay any eventual challenges to their reign. High civil servants were appointed then beheaded if they made costly mistakes; plots and machinations in the haram often led to exile or execution, tasters met their fate eating poisoned food destined for their masters, and so on. The center of the Turkish Empire was aswhirl with finery and degradation, lofty poetic ideals and base plots, devotion to the Qur'an and feigned ignorance of its teachings. It was a place, a time, and a civilization, still not quite understood by today's standards and it spawned a culture we continue to ignore at our own risk. This personal and historical tragedy, played out on the spectacular backdrop of Islam's struggle with other cultures, has been recounted many times in various literary forms and in many languages. This fictionalized version by Louis Gardel is perhaps the most evocative of all.