Roxelana's journey from abduction by slave traders in 1515 through the palace concubine system and onwards into marriage to Sultan Suleyman of the Ottoman Empire and freedom brought into the political life of the era a shrewd diplomat and keen philanthropist.
This history of Roxelana's trajectory and life has been praised as 'a riveting story of power, patronage and harem politics' by }Game Of Queens{ author Sarah Gristwood.
Icon Books Empress of the east, hardcover/leslie peirce
