REVIEW: Fortune’s Child by James Conroyd Martin

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Theodora: actress, prostitute, mistress, feminist. And Byzantine Empress of the civilized world.

Stephen: handsome Syrian boy, wizard’s apprentice, palace eunuch. And Secretary to the Empress.

How does this unlikely pair become such allies that one day Empress Theodora asks Stephen to write her biography?

From a very young age, Theodora, daughter of a circus bearkeeper in Constantinople, sets her sights well above her station in life. Her exquisite beauty sets her apart on stages and in the eyes of men.

Stephen, a Syr...