Tariq Ali's second novel in The Islam Quintet is a rich and teeming chronicle set in twelfth-century Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem.

Set in the twelfth century Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem, this is the fictional memoir of Saladin the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem. It is the second in the series of historical novels depicting the confrontation between Islam and Christian civilisations.

Review
“The Book of Saladin is the second in a quartet of novels by Tariq Ali on the long encounter between Western Christendom and the world of Islam. Grippingly well told, brilliantly paced, remarkably convincing in its historical depiction of a fateful relationship, it is a narrative for our time, haunted by distant events and characters who are closer to us than we had dreamed.” - Edward Said “Ali overturns demonising stereotypes of Salah-al-Din, portraying instead the 'barbarian' Western invaders. Whether depicting erotically charged harem intrigue or siege warfare, The Book of Saladin is an entertaining feat of revisionist storytelling.” — Simon Carnell, Sunday Times “Ali's new historical novel... is told in a manner which combines the incantatory storytelling of the great Middle Eastern anthologies with the solidarity of historical research.” - Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday “Fiercely lyrical. Weaving political intrigue, gay and straight love, betrayal, cross-dressing, rape, assassination and crimes of passion, Ali's tale ripples with implicit parallels to our age.” — Publishers Weekly

Tariq Ali is a writer and film-maker. He has written over a dozen books on world history and politics and plays for both stage and screen. The first novel of his Islam Quartet, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, has been translated into several languages and was awarded the Archbishop San Clemente del Instituto Rosalia Prize for the Best Foreign Language Fiction published in Spain in 1994. the third, The Stone Woman, was published by Verso in 2000.