"The histories tell us the Greeks besieged Troy for Fourteen years for the sake of a woman. Will not the Turk, then, oppressed by piracies and invasions from this rock for over three centuries, endure one winter's siege?"

Harem by Colin Falconer

Wow. What a work of amazing quality this is! I went into it knowing nothing about the Sultan and Hürrem. It was quite an eye opener.

SPOILERS:

I was not helped in reading this by the fact that I despised Hürrem. I could not help it. Just reading about the incredible damage she causes in everyones' lives was enough to give me a headache. But it is impossible to stop reading this book once you start.

If there is one thing I did not like and it is something that caused me not to rate it a five, it was the amazing amount of violence throughout this book. Most of it involved Julia's story and as much as I did enjoy this book. I really could have and would have enjoyed it more if her story was not even told. I was primarily interested in the story of Hürrem.

And the Sultan had me grinding my teeth together. To me it seemed so obvious she was lethal and there were several times I wanted to shout through the book at the Sultan:"No. Don't do that". With each choice he made, all of which were terrible, I just got more exasperated with him.

But the book did what it needed to. It was educational, interesting and well written. I couldn't put it down. ( )

Segun la tradición otomana la 1ª concubina del sultán q le de un hijo se convertiría en Kaseki sultan, sultana favorita, tendría un trato especial y podría ser q su hijo accediera al trono.

Interesting book about the politcs of a harem. I don't know how historically accurate it is, but it was a good fiction read. The lengths a woman would go to in order to insure her position with the sultan surprised me. I never thought about it, I guess. Between the sultan fighting his own nature and history, the plotting and scheming of the women in the harem, and the few moments of kindness shown by a few, it was a suprisingly quick read considering the size of the book.

Kako je jedna robinja zaludila cara nad carevima, onog Velicanstvenog, i dovela do sunovrata Osmanlija...knjiga laka za citanje, mnogo realniji prikaz nego sto je to pokusano serijom o istom... ( )

Story of Roxelana, lover of Suleyman the Magnificant. Interesting contrast to Dorothea Dunnett's portrayal. ( )