<p>A brilliant and strikingly original debut novel, The Last King of Lydia imagines the bloody rise and fall of Croesus, 'the richest man on earth', and powerfully shows how happiness, even for those who have everything, is so often elusive.<br><br>A defeated king stands on top of a pyre. His conqueror, the Persian ruler Cyrus, signals to his guards; they step forward and touch flaming torches to the dry wood. Croesus, once the wealthie...