Theodora

August 8, 2011
Duffy’s seductive retelling of the story of the legendary empress Theodora will delight historical fiction fans. Introduced into a life of performing for the people of Constantinople, Theodora, a bear-keeper’s daughter, steals the limelight as an alluring child actress. Trained as a child prostitute, Theodora wanders throughout Europe and Persia in search of happiness and success while exploiting her racy talents, but nothing quite prepares her for becoming empress alongside Byzantium’s Emperor Justinian. Her magnificent comeback in her native Constantinople allows her to face the people who once shunned her, and they begin to see her in a new, respectful light. Duffy (The Room of Lost Things) presents a portrait of a woman who rose from misfortune and poverty to build an empire alongside a devoted husband.

October 1, 2011
The unexpurgated story of Theodora, performer and prostitute in Roman Constantinople, destined to rise above her hardscrabble life to become the Emperor's wife. The book is being for HBO. British novelist Duffy (State of Happiness, 2004) uses modern vocabulary to enliven her historical novel-- "bitch," "slut," "bloke" and worse pepper the pages as she recounts the lurid life of the bear-keeper's daughter trained for the stage from age five. A quick mind, a bold spirit, innate talent and a merciless teacher render Theodora a star by age 12 when she also starts work as a whore. At 17, bored but ambitious, she leaves Constantinople with her lover Hecebolus, the new Governor of the Pentapolis in Africa, but that relationship ends when Hecebolus takes another lover. Desperate to return to Constantinople, Theodora pretends to be a penitent Christian for the chance of a voyage home. This role, begun cynically, later turns sincere, and she agrees to work undercover for the church. Back in Constantinople she is introduced to Justinian, the Emperor's favorite nephew, who likes her so much he changes the law forbidding actresses to marry in order to wed her. Now the stage is set for Theodora's legitimization, first as wife, next as the Emperor's consort. A sequel is rumored. Although heavy on the sex and sensationalism, there's also intelligence and empathy under the energetic potboiler surface.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2011

Daughter of an actress and a bear keeper for the Hippodrome of Constantinople, Theodora was trained as a dancer, singer, and actress who performed on the stage and in the bedrooms of anyone who could afford her, from the time she was a child. Her skills as a comedic orator endeared her to both rich and poor, noble and common, so much so that she was exhausted by the time she was 16 years old. An invitation to be the mistress of the new governor of Apollonia in Libya came as a welcome surprise and an opportunity to create a new, more socially acceptable life for herself. But when Theodora finds herself cast off in a few short years, she must make her way back to her beloved Constantinople. VERDICT Duffy's (Parallel Lies) retelling of the true story of a woman (500-548) who rose from lowly beginnings to become Empress of the Byzantine Empire is lively and dramatic. One hesitates to use the term chick lit when referring to historical fiction, but perhaps it fits as Duffy explores themes of sexuality, theater, religious conversion, female oppression, and the struggle for power and recognition in a sixth-century historical setting with a surprisingly contemporary attitude. [The publisher notes that this is soon to be an HBO series.--Ed.]--Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.