Superb, a revelation - a real classic of popular literature ... endlessly diverting and inventive, (giving) a unique insight into a now-lost elegant, courtly and tolerant Arab world -- William Dalrymple Sunday Times Offers a gateway to a different world of language and ideas, florid, wildly descriptive and are a powerful reminder of the human need for story ... irresistible Independent This book is an astonishment ... a profound oddity, but an absolutely intriguing one Scotland on Sunday Instantly appealing (with) headlong narrative drive ... like a Medieval Fifty Shades of Grey ... above all, fun Guardian

Malcolm C. Lyons is also the translator of the Penguin Classics edition of the complete Arabian Nights. He was Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University and is a life fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is one of the world's leading experts on classical Arabic literature. Robert Irwin's books include For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their Enemies, The Middle East in the Middle Ages, The Arabian Nights: A Companion and (as editor) The Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabian Literature. He also introduced and edited the Penguin Classics Arabian Nights.