Sultan's Harem / 1-4000-8312-5"The Sultan's Harem" is a spectacular tale of hatred and revenge, as Falconer weaves the tale of a single woman - a slave of the most powerful man in the world - who tears down a powerful empire by careful manipulation of the man who loves her. This one woman, Hurrem...
When We Were Gods / 0-609-80889-3Falconer shows his prowess yet again at bringing history to life, in a vivid landscape, dominated by a powerful (and yet deeply politically vulnerable woman) who is frighteningly compelling. Falconer seems to specialize in strong women who are fundamentally unreli...
These are the kinds of historical fiction books I dream of. Richly detailed, well researched, a natural harmony between dialogue and non dialogue - never being too much of one or the other - a lesson in history and some engaging characters thrown in. Oh, and I am a little partial to journey stori...
Five hundred years ago, the Spanish Conquistadores defeated the mighty Aztec empire. It is a story we all know well, but there is one aspect of it that is largely unknown outside Mexico: that Cortés could not have prevailed without the help of his interpreter and mistress, a native Mexican woman,...
I originally picked up this book in WH Smiths in the UK when it came out on paperback via Coronet Books in 1994. I had just come back from my first trip around South East Asia and was really suffering from the holiday blues when Larry Rostant's front cover really caught my eye. The full complete ...
He came to find the pearl that would make his fortune only to lose the one he truly loved...
Connor groaned and tried to sit up. “Easy, fella,” Reyes said. “We’re almost there.”“What’s happening?”“We’re headed back to Sam Thong. They’re going to fix your leg.”Connor was awake but his mind was still wandering in his opium-fueled dreams. “Where’s Magdalena?”“You’ll see her very soon.”“When...
The suburb was known, with the humility typical of the Golden Lion, as the Comunità Magnifica. Ludovici had built his own residence in the quarter. It had a marble terrace that faced onto the water and from there he could watch his own ships sail past Seraglio Point into the Marmara Deniz, loaded...
Now they were so close, everyone had come alive. They had forgotten their despair during the storm.He heard a voice bark out a command in German. He winced. Would these nightmares never leave him?Then he heard it again.It wasn’t his imagination . . . everyone else was listening too.Now he could m...
After he had worked through the line of patients in the waiting room he might be called to ride out to one of the outlying towns for some patient too unwell to make the long journey to the clinic. He never refused, and tried to keep as busy as he could. When he was with his patients he didn’t hav...
Huntingdon Lodge was a mid-nineteenth-century plantation house set in fifty-six acres of rolling hills. As Ryan drove through the gates he saw a line of cars stretched right along the gravel drive, waiting to be parked. He pulled up behind a new Volvo; in the rear-vision mirror he saw a red BMW 5...
I stared out of the window but I didn’t see the shoeshine boys or the prostitutes on the street corners, the cobblestone streets where boys kicked soccer balls between the traffic. I didn’t even look around to watch the little kid run from the shop with a loaf of bread, the fat baker in his white...
The owl man staggered, white froth on his lips, laughing at the shadows hiding in the corners of the Dark House of the Cord. His hair, which reached almost to his waist, was matted with dried blood, and the black mantle around his shoulders gave him the appearance of a hunched and malevole...
Isabella recognizes her. She is the wife of one of Mortimer’s retainers.She looks pale and nervous. The blackening torsos and hindquarters that decorate the outside of the castle leave many feeling faint. Nothing like a severed head to sober the mood, especially after the crows have been at it.Is...
A uniformed chauffeur got out and held the back door open for me. I climbed in. This was it--I was going to meet the Kennedys.I wondered what Papi would say if he saw me now. Look at you, cariña, all grown up. What a thing you done with your life.”I played with Papi’s ring, thought about us in th...
They were all that was left of the old icons now. On the high altar a small crowd had gathered about Father Vital and were on their knees, praying the Our Father. ‘Papa loves you,’ Fabricia said. Elionor reached out and took her hand. ‘I do not mean...
He hadn’t slept, and he had been unable also to keep his breakfast down. Flurries of snow settled on the windowsill. The coldest winter Istanbul had seen in years. The porcelain stove in the corner of the office laboured hopelessly against the chill. Abrams blew on his hands to warm them.‘I heard...
A black eunuch jumped down to settle the horses while another opened the door. The windows were covered in black taffeta so she could not make out their visitor. She was only mildly curious. Ludovici often entertained visitors during the day, usually other merchants from the Comunità Magnifica. A...