The Aviary
Gate

by Katie Hickman

The Aviary Gate is a tale of ancient alliances and intrigues, of forbidden love and dangerous secrets.

‘Lush, magical and utterly absorbing, it is a masterful novel from one of our most acclaimed authors’

The Aviary
Gate

Elizabeth Stavely sits in the Bodleian Library, her hands trembling as she holds a fragment of parchment, the key to a story untold for four hundred years ...
Constantinople 1599: the English merchant Paul Pindar must deliver an extraordinary gift to the Sultan. Grieving for his lost love, drowned in a shipwreck, he hears rumours of a new golden-haired slave in the Sultan's harem. Could this be his Celia?

REVIEWS
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The Aviary Gate

“Combining elements of The Tempest with gothic intrigue and charged, poignant romance, this is a sensuously involving novel. Teasing, erotic, suspenseful and expertly done.”
– Daily Mail (UK)
“This cleverly written escapist novel looks set to turn Hickman into the next Philippa Gregory.”
– Evening Standard (UK)
“Dear reader, lie back on your ottoman and relax. Katie Hickman will take you to a magical land, the Topkapi harem in Istanbul in 1599. The intricate courts, alleys and secret staircases of the Topkapi are enticingly described and contribute to a plot full of headlong twists and turns. Luscious…exquisite…a box of Turkish delight. Enjoy!”
– The Independent (UK)
“Forbidden love, sailors and secrets-fasten your seat belts for Hickman’s period tome. Think Jane Austen meets Pirates of the Caribbean.”
– In Style (UK)

BIOGRAPHY

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Katie Hickman is the best-selling author of ten books. Her most recent work, Brave Hearted, was preceded by She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India 1600 - 1900 (published in 2019), and by the highly-acclaimed series of novels, The Aviary Gate, The Pindar Diamond and The House at Bishopsgate, a trilogy set in early seventeenth century Constantinople, Venice, London, and rural Wiltshire.

She is also the author of two best-selling history books, Courtesans and Daughters of Britannia, which between them have sold more than quarter of a million copies worldwide. Her other works include two travel books, Travels with a Mexican Circus (republished by Bloomsbury in August 2014) which was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1993, and Dreams of the Peaceful Dragon, the story of a journey on horseback across the forbidden Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Her first novel, The Quetzal Summer, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. Her books have been translated into 20 languages.

Katie Hickman lives on a converted barge on the Thames in London with her partner, the designer Matthew Ruscombe-King.