The Islam Quintet
A Sultan in Palermo: A Novel
Tariq Ali
List price £8.99
Product Details
- Format:
- Paperback / softback
- ISBN:
- 9781844671014
- Published:
- 17 Oct 2006
- Publisher:
- Verso Books
- Dimensions:
- 246 pages - 191 x 137 x 20mm
- Availability:
- Available
- Series:
- The Islam Quintet
Categories:
The fourth novel in Tariq Ali's 'Islam Quintet' charts the life and loves of the medieval cartographer Muhammed al-Idrisi. Torn between his close friendship with the sultan and his friends who are leaving the island or plotting a resistance to Norman rule, Idrisi finds temporary solace in the harem; but his conscience is troubled... A Sultan in Palermo is a mythic novel in which pride, greed, and lust intermingle with resistance and greatness. It echoes a past that can still be heard today. Praise for the Islam Quintet: "A richly woven tapestry that even before its completion merits comparison with Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy." Kirkus Reviews
The year is 1153. The Normans are ruling Siqqiliya, but Arab culture and language dominate the island and the court. Sultan Rujari surrounds himself with Muslim intellectuals, several concubines, and an administration presided over by gifted eunuchs. This fourth novel in Tariq Ali's "Islam Quintet" is set in medieval Palermo, a Muslim city.
TARIQ ALI is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics--including Pirates of the Caribbean, Bush in Babylon, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and The Obama Syndrome--as well as five novels in his Islam Quintet series and scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of the New Left Review and lives in London.