Saladin, who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the 12th century, is the Islamic world's preeminent hero. Ruthless in defence of his faith, brilliant in leadership, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian foes. He knew the limits of violence, showing such tolerance and generosity that many Europeans, appalled at the brutality of their own people, saw him as the exemplar of their own knightly ideals....

In 1187, Saladin marched triumphantly into Jerusalem, ending decades of struggle against the Christians and reclaiming the holy city for Islam. Four years later he fought off the armies of the Third Crusade, forces commanded by Europe's leading monarchs. Within months of the campaign ending, Saladin died in Damascus, exhausted and almost penniless. Yet within his lifetime he had acquired - in both the Christian and Muslim worlds - an unparalleled...

1579: Hannah Levi, a Venetian exile, has set up a new life for herself as the best midwife in all of Constantinople, tending to the thousand women of the Sultan's lively and infamous harem. One night, when Hannah is unexpectedly summoned to the palace, she's confronted with Leah, a poor Jewish peasant girl who has been abducted and sold into the harem. The Sultan wants her to produce his heir, but the girl just wants to return to her home and the...

Set in Venice, 1522, this is 'eye-witness history' telling the story of Suleyman's rise to power in the 16th century. Sensitive intelligence arrives from the east confirming the European powers' greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has amassed all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on their entrails.