Books The Kadin  by Bertrice Small (Author)

"The Kadin" by Bertrice Small is a historical romance novel that tells the story of Lady Janet Leslie, the only daughter of a Scottish earl and King James' ambassador to the small Mediterranean country of San Lorenzo. At just 14 years old, Janet is happily betrothed to the heir of San Lorenzo, but her life takes a dramatic turn when she is betrayed by a servant, abducted, and sold at an auction in Crete. The highest bidder is Hadji Bey, the chief eunuch for the Sultan of Turkey, and even Janet's father cannot outbid him.

Renamed Cyra for her striking red-gold hair, Janet is taken to the Sultan’s harem where she learns the ways of the court and forms close bonds with two other women. When the Sultan’s youngest son, Salim, is given the choice of women to form his own harem, Hadji Bey secretly manipulates events so that Janet (Cyra) and her friends are among the chosen. Janet rises to become the bas Kadin, or the mother of Salim’s heir, Suleiman, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.