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“When the fiction is good, the history is usually distorted, and on the rare occasions when the history is good, the fiction is usually less interesting than the straight historical narrative. This novel is a remarkable exception... part history, part fiction, it is enthralling.” ― Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University

“Hughes has richly imagined the life of a remarkable historical figure... readers who enjoy in-depth historical detail and court intrigue will be riveted.” ― Library Journal

“Based on a historical event of rare improbability—the rise in the sixteenth century of a daughter of Venice to the rank of Queen Mother in the mighty Ottoman Empire—this novel is a gorgeous feat of imagination, a stellar work by a gifted writer.” ― Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University, author of Ralph Ellison