In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror entered Constantinople on a white horse. This was the start of the Ottoman love affair with the city that lasted until 1924, when the last Caliph, Abdulmecid, hurriedly left on the Orient Express. For almost five centuries Constantinople, with its enormous racial and cultural diversity, was the centre of the dramatic and often depraved story of an extraordinary dynasty. Philip Mansel’s highly acclaimed book on the history of a city and a dynasty is an absorbing account for the interaction between the vibrantly cosmopolitan capital, the city of the world’s desire, and its ruling family.