I did have a little wobble with the first chapter as Duffy explains a lot of the history and sets the seen. My mother is a classist though, and has been reading the book in advance, and says it brings it fully to life and I would agree with her. What about the historical aspect? Well, it may surprise you to find out but I wasn’t born during the Byzantine period in history, so I have no real inkling how spot on the novel is. For me though a fowl mouthed dwarf and ‘Madame’, Sophia, who becomes Theodora’s pimp and best friend was possibly my favourite character and almost stole the show from Theodora herself. There is the tough loving teacher and eunuch Menander, the butter wouldn’t melt (though watch out) Chrysomallo, the dashing Hecebolus and the delightfully wicked Euphemia. The book isn’t just about Theodora though and there are a few characters that deserve there own mention too because characters are something that Stella Duffy does exceptionally well. There is a twist in the middle as she follows her heart rather than her head and exposes another side to her we have not seen before, you like her more. We follow her journey from the dark underbelly of Constantinople and its prostitution, through the theatre and onwards (I don’t want to give too much away) as she breaks the mould to become the woman no one would believe she could. However do not let first impressions fool you as Theodora is determined, I want to say gutsy but it’s a bit of a cliché, and what she lacks in some talents she makes up with more, her mind and her body tend to win people over though not necessarily in that order.
From the death of her father at five killed by his own favourite bear of his trade, which we see through flashbacks of a kind, and the fact as the plainer and less talented in dancing and singing sister of three Theodora has a slight underdog status from the opening of the book and you feel for her, you side with her, you like her. Theodora definitely is the star of ‘Theodora’ (that sounds a bit weird, you get what I mean). I think the most important thing in any book where the main character is also the title of the novel is that the author makes that character reader friendly, why are you going to get through 300+ pages if you don’t like the star of the book. If the reader knows from the start where a book is going then why would they read on? All three together is quite a risk for any author to take, some risks fail and others really pay off. It’s the latter that I think is the most challenging. The word ‘Empress’ is on the cover of the book too after all.
The second is the book is about a real if rather mysterious woman ‘Theodora’, which leads to the third challenge we know what happens to the character. The first is stepping into a slightly new genre for her with a historical novel.
In her twelfth book Stella Duffy sets herself several challenges.
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