In 1402, the Christian city of Constantinople is under attack by a Muslim army. With surrender in the wind, the spoils are to be the key to the city and the 14-year-old Princess Theodota. In the twists and turns of historical fact, Geoffrey Fox delivers A Gift for the Sultan, a dramatic, fact-based novel that probes the cultural and religious life of the early 15th century and the leaders-royals, military figures, and politicians-who engaged in a religious conflict to the death. Weaving into his story a cast of historical figures-Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, his nephew Ioannes, the vezir Ali Pasha, Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, and Muslim khan Timur, among others-Fox entices readers into an era that shone a harsh light on a level of Christian-Muslim discord that changed the course of world history. Fox deftly writes of a complicated time, yet with such clarity that readers feel themselves in Constantinople and observing first-hand the unfolding drama.
