I've always been drawn to historical fictions, but this is by far my favorite. Before there was a legendary empress, there was a conflicted young woman from the lower classes. She seems impossible - yet her transcendence teaches us that society can’t tell us who we are deep down.

But when she’s trained as a political spy, the lessons on personal power transform Theodora into the stuff of empresses. From the brothels to the bathhouses to the spectacular chariot races in the Hippodrome - her role in society seemed hopeless. Far Away Bird goes where history classrooms fear to tread, in hopes that Theodora can finally take her seat among the greatest women in history.įollow young Theodora through the scintillating and violent world of Byzantium. More than a millennium before the women’s rights movement, Theodora, alone, took on the world’s greatest superpower and succeeded. Theodora goes on to influence sweeping reforms that result in some of the first ever Western laws granting women freedom and protection. Tales of her shamelessness have survived for centuries, and yet her accomplishments as an empress are unparalleled. Her salacious past has left historians blushing and uncomfortable. This intimate account deftly follows her rise from actress-prostitute in Constantinople’s red-light district to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. Inspired by true events, Far Away Bird delves into the complex mind of Byzantine Empress Theodora.

Far Away Bird by Douglas A. Burton