The Book of Saladin: A Novel

<i>The Book of Saladin</i> 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.<br> 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.