A Tale.
It is now 20 years since Scheherazade seduced the tyrannical King Shariyar . . . since she spun her stories for 1001 nights, saving not only her own life but the lives of every other woman of her generation. She is a queen, beautiful, loved by all, a hero to all women and the real ruler of the kingdom.
The year is AD 806, the year the snow fell on Baghdad, and the year Scheherazade and Shariyar make their first visit to the city. As does a monk, travelling from Sicily, clutching a scrap of an ancient tale about a storyteller. A monk destined to share a prison cell with an ill-assorted band of seamen, down on their luck and looking for work. Then from under the Caliph of Baghdad's nose, Scheherazade is kidnapped. And once again she must spin a story to save her life.
'Scheherazade' is a mesmerising adventure full of wit, danger and incident, and compelling confirmation of the power of stories and the power of the imagination. It seamlessly weaves fact, fiction and fable into a remarkable novel rich with the heady power of all the tales of the Arabian Nights.
