Gaurav Garg Author

 . Lord of the Stolen Mountains In the savage, unforgiving mountains of late 18th-century Ottoman Albania, a boy’s world is shattered by his father’s murder. Fuelled by an oath of vengeance and guided by his formidable mother, Khamko, young Ali of Tepelena embarks on a relentless ascent from hunted outlaw to master kleft, his cunning as sharp as his yataghan. The Stolen Mountains become his crucible, forging a leader whose ambition will shake the foundations of an empire. As Ali Pasha, the “Lion of Ioannina,” he carves out a vast, virtually independent kingdom across Epirus and Thessaly. His Saray glitters with plundered wealth, his armies, bound by the sacred Skipetar’s oath, are the most feared in the Balkans. He outmaneuvers treacherous Ottoman viziers in Constantinople, tames wild bandit chieftains like Kara Kol and Gavril Vlachos with chilling brutality, and engages in a deadly game of diplomacy with Napoleon’s France and Great Britain, charming poets like Lord Byron even as h...