The secret history by Stephanie Thornton
This book is aboyt the empress Theodora, whos life story is amazing.
It is set in 6th century Constantinople, and Theodora starts her life as a somewhat safe, but poor, oldest daughter of the bear trainer of the emperor.
When her father dies, her family are thrown into the street. Her mother has the choice of marrying the new bear trainer, or starve. She maries him, but he turns out to be a very cruel man, who cuts off the ears of Theodora's youngest sister Anastasia, when she is just a little girl, for her to earn money as a maimed child of the streets. Anastasia doesn't durvive the ordeal and now Theodora is left with her sister Comito and her mother, who is turning to any kind of drug to dull her pain.
It is set in 6th century Constantinople, and Theodora starts her life as a somewhat safe, but poor, oldest daughter of the bear trainer of the emperor.
When her father dies, her family are thrown into the street. Her mother has the choice of marrying the new bear trainer, or starve. She maries him, but he turns out to be a very cruel man, who cuts off the ears of Theodora's youngest sister Anastasia, when she is just a little girl, for her to earn money as a maimed child of the streets. Anastasia doesn't durvive the ordeal and now Theodora is left with her sister Comito and her mother, who is turning to any kind of drug to dull her pain.
Theodora's life story is totally amazing, so incredibly full of violence and ordeals and still she soars to the stars and become the empress of the great kingdom.
I couldn't put this book down. The resilience of her existance is something I will carry with me for long to come.