Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

It is August in Paris and budding art historian Khayyam should be having the time of her life – but even in the City of Lights she can’t stop worrying about the mess she left back home in Chicago. Only when she meets a dashing young Parisian – who happens to be a distant relative of the novelist Alexandre Dumas – do things start to get interesting.

Two hundred years earlier in the Ottoman empire, Leila is the most favoured woman in the Pasha’s harem. Her position is meant to be a gift; but for her it is a curse, as she fights to keep her true love hidden from her jealous captor. Echoing across centuries, as Khayyam uncovers the scintillating truth of Leila’s long-forgotten life, her own destiny is transformed forever.