Too Soon the Night: A Novel of Empress Theodora (The Theodora Duology)
For someone who’s been dead almost 1500 years, Empress Theodora of Byzantium is having a moment. The subject of numerous biographies and now historical novels, she’s gaining recognition as arguably the most significant woman of the late Roman Empire. (Full disclosure: my historical novel, The Eagle and the Swan, deals with Theodora’s career up to 532 AD.) Martin’s Too Soon the Night, a sequel to Fortune’s Child, begins in 528—after Theodora married Justinian, who became Emperor in 527. It recounts her exploits in Constantinople until she died in 548.
And exploits there were! Martin describes a period fraught with political, religious, and social tumult, at the cusp between antiquity and the medieval world. The juiciest, most scandalous part of Theodora’s story isn’t mentioned except as brief flashbacks. The young Theodora, daughter of the circus bear keeper, was a notorious actress, striptease performer, and courtesan before attracting the future emperor Justinian.
Martin tells the story through alternating viewpoints. A third-person narrator drily documents actual historical events. Livelier is a first-person version told by Stephen, a scribe tasked with writing Theodora’s biography. Through his perspective we get emotion and internal conflict. It’s an alternative to the actual historical account of Justinian’s reign by official court historian Procopius. That functionary’s vindictive Secret History (an account that made Theodora the most maligned woman of the ancient world) portrays her as a degenerate seductress.
In contrast, Martin’s well-researched novel shows an imperial Theodora tempering Justinian’s intolerance of unorthodoxy. Rising from the bordello to the throne through wit and beauty, she advanced rights for women and courageously saved the city from ruin, a turning point in Western civilization.
