The Mapmaker’s Daughter

The Mapmaker’s Daughter, a historical novel set in the sixteenth century, is the story of Cecilia Baffo Veniero—the mesmerizing, illegitimate Venetian who became the Sultana Nurburu, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Nurbanu narrates her story as the wife of Suleiman’s son and mother of the future Sultan. Nurbanu was known for her beauty, intelligence and political sophistication that ensured her son would become ruler. Following her son’s investiture, Nurbanu continued to exert her considerable influence and rule the empire through her son. Author Katherine Nouri Hughes takes us inside the secretive harems of power and palace intrigue of the Ottoman Empire.