Harem

<p><b>Istanbul, 1520:</b> To the outside world, the Sultan's harem was an oasis, a paradise of murmuring fountains and beautiful women. In reality it was a snake pit of jealousy, betrayal and murder. Behind the walls of the Topkapi palace, his harem was a virtual prison.<br> <br> The only way to a better life for any of his hundreds of concubines was to somehow find her way into the Sultan's bed and bear him a son. But one slave girl dreamed of far more than that. Roxelana didn't just want the great lord's favour; she wanted power. And she wanted revenge.<br> <br> This is the astonishing story of Suleiman, the one they called the Magnificent , and the woman he made his queen, in defiance of the centuries-old code of the Ottoman dynasty.<br> <br> From medieval Venice to the slave markets of Algiers, from the mountains of Persia to the forbidden seraglio of the Ottoman's greatest sultan, this is a tale of passion and intrigue in a world where nothing is really as it seems.</p>