Ann Chamberlin Books In Order

Publication Order of Joan of Arc Tapestries Books

Publication Order of Reign of the Favored Women Books

Publication Order of Sword and the Well trilogy Books

Publication Order of The Valkyries Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ann Chamberlin is a historical fiction novelist who was born and brought up in Salt Lake City, Utah. During her childhood, she also spent some time in Europe with her father, a visiting mathematics professor.
Later on, she went to the University of Utah where she specialized in the Anthropology and Archeology of the Middle East. She also spent one summer in Beersheva, Israel as an excavator and taveler.

During this time, she traveled all over the Holy Land, and for about a month, she lived in Jerusalem, one of the oldest cities in the Middle East.

Chamberlin has studied Arabic, Hebrew, and Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Akkadian in addition to German, French, and English. She has also spent time in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey, and traveled extensively across North African countries.
Ann currently makes her home on an acre and a half farm with an old house near Salt Lake City alongside several chickens.

Chamberlin published “The Virgin and the Tower,” her debut novel in 1979. The work performed particularly well in that it gave Ann the confidence to continue writing.
She has now published more than twenty titles to her name including picture books, nonfiction works, single-standing novels, and series.

She has come to be known for penning novels with a setting in the Middle East. Her interest in the Middle East has come from her upbringing as a Mormon.

At some point, she just could not deal with her Mormon prophets, the deserts, polygamy, and patriarchy. One reviewer told her that she was too bitter and too close to her fiction, and this was affecting her writing.
Seeking to get a better understanding of her surroundings she went on to study Hebrew.

On her first trip to Israel, she was a woman filled with pious zeal and spent ten days studying Arabic, and touring the Sinai far away from the idealistic world she thought was too perfect.
It was not long before she started writing as one book led to another, as she found all manner of fascinating material on her trips to the Middle East.

Aside from her novels, Ann Chamberlin has produced a lot of plays. However, her best-known play is “JIHAD,” which was produced in New York City in both the years 2000 and 1996.

The play was the winner of the best new play of the year by the Off-Off Broadway Review. The work crossed borders when it was performed at the Bogota, Colombia International Theater for Peace conference.
She is also credited with the Utah Shakespearean Festival produced “The Lamentable Tragedy of Sir Thomas More.”

When she is not writing her novels, she can be found engaging in several of her bobbies which include folk dancing, cooking, and gardening.

She is also the owner of an Arizona Renaissance Festival bookshop and is a board member of the North American Conference’s Historical Novel Society.

Before she became an author, she held jobs as a swimming instructor, and worked with the census, in a library, in a junior high, and in a deli.

Ann Chamberlin’s novel “Safiye” is a work in which the author writes about a critical transition period in Ottoman history as told by a eunuch.

This is a very good perspective since eunuchs were the only ones who could exist and observe both the worlds of women and men.

The work is set in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, where the daughter of a nobleman from Venice named Safiye Baffo is taken by pirates. She is ultimately given to the harem of the Ottoman throne and offered to Prince Murad.
Alongside Safiye on the ship was another kidnap victim named Giorgio Veniero who is an Italian sailor.

While Safiye quickly became one of the most important women in the harem much beloved by the mother of the sultan, Veniero’s life takes a different turn as he is castrated and loses his masculinity.

It is a work full of historical richness with a great romance story, even as it provides a glimpse into the magnificence of the palaces of the Ottoman rulers, the intrigues of their harems, and the deviant and extreme dimensions of eroticism.

“The Sultan’s Daughter” by Ann Chamberlin is a work that continues to follow the life and times of Giorgia Veniero and Safiye. The former is now a eunuch after he put his sailing days behind him.
He is now charged with guarding the honor and life of Esmikhan his beloved mistress, who is also the Grand Vizier’s wife.

Since she cannot bear children that will survive, the daughter of the sultan has resigned herself to a life of loneliness without children and is unloved by her absent husband.

Meanwhile, Safiye who had been taken at the same time as Giorgio, has put her wiles to use, to enthrall the heir to the Ottoman throne. Secure in the privacy and luxury of the harem, she wields power that stretches far beyond the walls of the palace.
When these plots threaten Esmikhan, Giorgio will do whatever he can to stop them. However, his most difficult task is trying to keep Esmikhan safe.

When she is threatened by kidnappers, he will have to make a difficult choice between the woman he loves and a chance to regain freedom. He holds the Grand Vizier’s wife’s happiness in his hands but giving it to her would put both of them in danger.

Ann Chamberlin’s “The Reign of Favored Women” is an interesting work in the “Reign of the Favored Women” series of novels.

The events in the harem have reached a crescendo as intrigue continues to rise. On the one hand are the wars and conflicts that take place in the quest for power while on the other, are the dangerous intrigues that usually take place in the harem.
There is everything from grand viziers being knifed to death, concubines drowned and babies being thrown down flights of stairs.

All of these happenings result in a lot of questions:

Did Selim the Sultan slip in the bath and die from his wounds? Why did the daughter of the sultan and granddaughter of Suleiman Ismihan always have stillbirths?
And what will happen with Safiye who values nothing but more power?