The Bearkeeper’s Daughter

by Gillian Bradshaw

First published 1987

Amazon

2.5(5)

John, the illegitimate son of the woman who has become Empress Theodora, travels from Bostra to Constantinople after his father’s death. The imperial capital offers opportunity as well as danger: Theodora acknowledges him privately, while her husband Justinian’s court is crowded with officials, soldiers, churchmen and rivals whose favour can change without warning.

Placed under the protection of the eunuch general Narses, John learns how power works inside Justinian’s empire and discovers that being connected to the empress can be as dangerous as it is advantageous. Bradshaw uses his uncertain position between family and court to explore Theodora’s extraordinary rise, the machinery of Byzantine government and the costs of surviving close to absolute power.