The Book of Saladin

Second book of the internationally acclaimed Islamic Quintet

Set in 12th-century Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem, this is the fictional memoir of Saladin, the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem. It is the second in a series of historical novels depicting the confrontation between Islamic and Christian civilisations.The Book of Saladin is the fictional memoir of Saladin, the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem, as dictated to a Jewish scribe, Ibn Yakub. Saladin grants Ibn Yakub permission to talk to his wife and retainers so that he might present a full portrait in the Sultan's memoirs. A series of interconnected stories follows, tales brimming over with warmth, earthy humor and passions in which ideals clash with realities and dreams are confounded by desires.
The novel charts the rise of Saladin as Sultan of Egypt and Syria and follows him as he prepares to take Jerusalem back from the Crusaders. This is a medieval story, but it uncannily points to contemporary events in Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad.