She was never a sultan. Yet for more than three decades, emperors, ministers, soldiers, and foreign powers had to reckon with her.
Kösem Sultan entered the Ottoman palace as a young captive girl and rose to become the mother of two sultans, the grandmother of another, and one of the most powerful women in the empire. She survived palace intrigues, succession crises, rebellions, and the deaths of those closest to her. At times, she governed through a child. At others, she had to control a son who had become one of the empire's most feared rulers.
Then came the decision that would haunt her legacy: helping remove her own son from the throne.
Her final struggle would be even more personal. When another powerful woman challenged her control of the palace, Kösem found herself fighting for survival against a rival from the next generation.
From the hidden world of the Ottoman harem to the corridors of Topkap? Palace, this is the story of a woman who learned how power really worked and used that knowledge to survive at the heart of an empire.
Until, one night, the palace turned against her.