Dawn Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome

by Faith L Justice

Overview

A calculating court. An empire at risk. With her child brother the new emperor, will her family survive his reign?

Constantinople, AD 404. Princess Pulcheria is terrified for the future. With her father's death leaving her seven-year-old brother as the new ruler, the astute girl fears the easily influenced boy will be destroyed by the whims of a manipulative aristocracy. Vowing to protect their family legacy, the young noble convinces the underage monarch to appoint her as the imperial regent.

Defending herself from duplicitous suitors, Pulcheria and her sisters escape marriage with a shocking vow, garnering favor with the people of Constantinople. But after her sibling comes of age, his ambitious wife and foolish support of heretics threaten to undo her plans to secure the empire's sovereign authority.

Can this shrewd young princess outmaneuver a palace filled with greedy, power-hungry men?

Dawn Empress is the vivid second tale in the Theodosian Women biographical historical fiction series. If you like women who defined history, political scheming, and epic conflicts between family, church, and power, then you'll love Faith L. Justice's mesmerizing dive into Byzantine imperial life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780917053146
Publisher:	Raggedy Moon Books
Publication date:	05/15/2020
Series:	The Theodosian Women , #2
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

FAITH L. JUSTICE writes award-winning fiction and articles in Brooklyn, New York. Her work appeared in such publications as "Salon.com," "Writer's Digest," and "The Copperfield Review." She's Chair of the New York City Chapter of the Historical Novel Society and Associate Editor for "Space and Time Magazine." For fun, Faith likes to dig in the dirt-her garden and various archaeological sites. Sample her work, check out her blog or ask Faith a question at her website: www.faithljustice.com

Editorial Reviews

2020-07-03
In this historical novel set in fifth-century Constantinople, a young princess struggles to defend the Eastern Roman Empire after her father’s death.

When the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Flavius Arcadius Augustus, suddenly dies at the age of 31, a dire crisis of succession presents itself. He left behind three daughters and only one son, Theodosius, who is only 7 years old. The predicament is a perilous one—the Western Empire is under siege by enemies, and “dour-faced” Arcadius’ rule was generally regarded as “disastrous.” In addition, there are persistent rumors that Theodosius is an illegitimate heir to the throne—his mother, Eudoxia, now dead, wasn’t known for her virtue. Pulcheria, Theodosius’ 9-year-old sister, though, is as remarkably precocious as she is protective of her little brother and is anxious to secure both the Eastern Empire and her family’s rule over it. As a girl, she’s barred from ever ruling herself, but she establishes herself as her brother’s closest adviser, asserting an indirect power by way of her influence over him. Anthemius, the second most powerful figure in the Eastern Empire, is appointed regent until Theodosius reaches the age of majority and plans to achieve his own foothold by marrying his rash grandson, Isidorus, to Pulcheria. In this sequel to Twilight Empress (2017), Justice chronicles, with a skillful blend of historical rigor and dramatic action, the extraordinary efforts of Pulcheria to outmaneuver her adversaries and defend Theodosius. The prose is razor sharp, and the tale is as impressively unsentimental as it is genuinely moving: “The one history lesson she learned over and over again was that the emperor was always in danger. That knowledge was a curse. As she had after her mother’s death, Pulcheria struggled with a sense of helplessness. She was a young girl with an impossible task.”

A gripping tale of a royal sister’s fraught political machinations.

Kirkus Reviews