The Sultan’s Wife

Author(s): Jane Johnson

Location(s): London, Morocco

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): 1677

Location

Content

The year is 1677. Behind the magnificent walls and towering arches of the Palace of Meknes, captive chieftain’s son and now a lowly scribe, Nus Nus is framed for murder. As he attempts to evade punishment for the bloody crime, Nus Nus finds himself trapped in a vicious plot, caught between the three most powerful figures in the court: the cruel and arbitrary Sultan Moulay Ismail, one of the most tyrannical rulers in history: his monstrous wife Zidana, famed for her use of poison and black magic: and the conniving Grand Vizier. Meanwhile, a young Englishwoman named Alys Swann has been taken prisoner by Barbary corsairs and brought to the court . She faces a simple choice: renounce her faith and join the Sultan’s harem: or die. As they battle for survival, Alys and Nus Nus find themselves thrust into an unlikely alliance – an alliance that will become a deep and moving relationship in which these two outsiders will find sustenance and courage in the most perilous of circumstances.

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