«A vivid, significant work of scholarship.»

Kate Maltby, The Times

«I adored this book, it resonated deeply with me.»

Elif Shafak, Radio 3 (Free Thinking)

«A little-known story that Brotton chronicles with scholarship, assurance, and not a little charm.»

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

«Jerry Brotton's sparkling new book sets out just how extensive and complex England's relationship with the Arab and Muslim world once was, and tentatively connects the threads of that engagement to our own times.»

David Shariatmadari, Guardian

«There is much in these pages to delight and provoke... This Orient Isle is a richly resonant work which not only recasts our understanding of the Elizabethan era but also reveals Islam, crucially, as "part of the national story of England".»

Jeremy Seal, Telegraph

«Jerry Brotton's fabulous new book [reveals] just how deep and entangled the roots of the Islamic and Christian faiths were in the early modern period. ... a timely intervention and a marvellous achievement.»

Marcus Nevitt, Spectator