The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 18, 2013 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013-bookshelf, 2013-around-the-world-challenge, library-books-read-2013, historical-fiction, 2013-historical-fic-challenge, ancient-historical-fiction

This was another one of the novels that I finally had the chance to read while I was on vacation. I've had the book on my TBR pile since January when I first saw the cover on GoodReads and I had to wait awhile to get it from the library and the waiting almost did me in but it was well worth the wait.

Stephanie Thornton created an exceptionally well written novel set in Constantinople in the 6th century. The novel centers around Theodora the lowly street urchin who rose from meager beginnings to This was another one of the novels that I finally had the chance to read while I was on vacation. I've had the book on my TBR pile since January when I first saw the cover on GoodReads and I had to wait awhile to get it from the library and the waiting almost did me in but it was well worth the wait.

Stephanie Thornton created an exceptionally well written novel set in Constantinople in the 6th century. The novel centers around Theodora the lowly street urchin who rose from meager beginnings to go on to be come one of the most influential women in all of history when she became Empress.

I started The Secret History at around 10 p.m. one night and stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish it. It was written so beautifully that it sucked me into the story from the very first page. I've always been a fan of historical fiction especially those that center around strong female characters and I'm a firm believer that the quote "Well behaved women seldom make history" is true. While The Secret history is a fictionalized account of Empress Theodora's life, the amount of research the author did to write the story really showed, and she tried to be as historically accurate as much as possible but still took a creative license with it as well.

I loved how as soon as I began reading the book I felt that I was transported into the actual story. The way that Stephanie wrote the story and created such a rich historical back drop it was as though I could see the places that were being described as though I was there along with Theodora through out the entirety of the novel. For a debut author to bring a story to life as much as Stephanie did with this one I was really surprised and impressed.

I thought the way the characters in this story were just perfect. Good, bad and ugly I loved reading about all of them and I loved just how realistic they were. Their good qualities and their bad qualities as well as their personalities were really well developed, and they seemed as though I was watching living, breathing people interact.

Full of plot twists, adventure, and emotions The Secret History is a masterpiece of historical fiction. Theodora was a true underdog and I was rooting for her the whole time. Her ups and downs were triumphant and tragic. Stephanie Thornton made a fantastic debut with this novel and I can't wait to see more written by her and thanks to her I have a newfound obsession with historical fiction based on Theodora. This is definitely one of my top 10 favourite books of the year.

I would recommend The Secret History to fans of historical fiction that is equally character and plot driven as well as an immensely strong female character based on a real historical figure and one of the world's most prominent and important women.

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