by Stella Duffy
Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore is the fictional biography of Theodora of Constantinople by Stella Duffy. Theodora was a lowborn woman with a disreputable past who later became Empress of Rome and a Saint in the Orthodox Church.Theodora was the daughter of a bear trainer and a common woman. After ...
I'm always excited to learn about an influential historical figure that I had not heard of before and seriously, this title draws attention. You can't argue with that. So, obviously, I don't know all the Roman emperors. In fact, I'd never heard of Justinian before and thus had never wondered about h...
Most Western history consigns the centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire to the Dark Ages, not spending much time discussing the growing strength of the East during that period, centered on the new Rome of Constantinople (later Byzantium, now Istanbul). The names of Byzantium's le...
3.5 stars. Sixth century Byzantium is not a time period I normally read about and I had never heard of Theodora before, but her story sounded interesting so I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did! I enjoyed Theodora’s story – a performer-turned-whore-turned-high-class-courtesan-becomes- empre...
When considering famous women in ancient history, Cleopatra and Nefertiti are just two women that immediately come to mind. Theodora of Constantinople is not. Yet, given her background and upbringing, it is one of the more extreme and shocking rags-to-riches story of its time, if not of history. Ste...
Interesting enough premise but awkward writing -- a bit stuffy and bloated. While I was reading, I was engaged enough but every time I put it down, I couldn't find the motivation to pick it back up. Might give it a try again, someday.
Reviewing for BlogHer.comExcellent historical fiction
Very poor, I kept on reading it as I expected with all the number of excellent reviews it received it was bound to get better - it didn't. Indeed, it got more and more ridiculous. I should have been warned when one of the reviews called Theodora as 'a wise-cracking tart with a heart'. Actually the m...
I must say that I learned alot about Theodora in this book. This is the first piece of fiction or nonfiction I have ever read on her and you could tell the book was well researched. The only reason the book didn't receive 4 stars from me is that "f-bombs" were dropped gratuituous manner (I have a di...
2.5 starsTheodora: Actress, Empress, Whore was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Penguin Group USA.Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore tells the story of Theodora, before and after she became one of the most powerful women in the Byzantine Empire’s history. The novel touches briefly on her adoles...
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