Jason Goodwin fell under the spell of Istanbul while studying Byzantine history at Cambridge University. Following the success of his book A Time for Tea: Travels Through China and India in Search of Tea, he made a six-month pilgrimage across Eastern Europe to reach Istanbul for the first time, a journey recounted in On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul. He is also the author of Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. He lives in Sussex, England, and is married with four children.