She Smiled on Constantinople
She Smiled on Constantinople

Author: Reynold Spector

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2008-05-01

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1435713176

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In 717 AD, Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), appeared doomed. In the preceding eighty years, Muslim Arabs had captured much of North Africa and the Middle East, and were poised to take Constantinople. To save Byzantium, the senate asked a Roman General, Leo III, to become Emperor. Leo and his brilliant son Constantine V radically altered the Byzantine imperial system militarily and culturally. Leo developed a novel idea - that God was angry with the Byzantine Christians because they worshiped Christian icons, relics, and pagan idols, thus ignoring the Second Commandment. God would favor the Byzantines only if they destroyed their icons and purified Christianity. Leo's policy set in motion a century-long conflict between the iconoclast (icon breaker) emperors and the iconophiles (icon lovers). This religious struggle culminated in a final battle to define Byzantine Christianity and the control of the Empire. This novel recounts who won, why and how.

Season of Storms
Season of Storms

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2014-09-02

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 1402258747

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"I've loved every one of Susanna's books! She has bedrock research and a butterfly's delicate touch with characters—sure recipe for historical fiction that sucks you in and won't let go!"—DIANA GABALDON, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlander Master of intricate paranormal historical fiction, Susanna Kearsley illuminates a multi-generational Italian romance, where the theatre only scratches the surface of the drama—and the danger. In 1921, infamous Italian poet Galeazzo D'Ascanio wrote his last and greatest play, inspired by his romance with his muse, actress Celia Sands. But on the eve of the premiere, Celia vanished, and the play was never performed. Two generations later, Alessandro D'Ascanio plans to stage his grandfather's masterpiece and has offered the lead to a promising young English actress, also named Celia Sands—at the whim of her actress mother, or so she thought. When Celia arrives at D'Ascanio's magnificent, isolated Italian villa, she is drawn to the mystery of her namesake's disappearance—and to the compelling, enigmatic Alessandro. But the closer Celia gets to learning the fate of her predecessor, the more she is drawn into a web of murder, passion, and the obsession of genius. Though she knows she should let go of the past, in the dark, in her dreams, it comes back... Hints of the paranormal and the passion of the Italian stage will draw readers of Diana Gabaldon, Kate Morton, and Kate Mosse, into the romance of Susanna Kearsley's lush historical fiction. Also by Susanna Kearsley: The Winter Sea The Firebird A Desperate Fortune The Rose Garden The Shadowy Horses The Splendour Falls Named of the Dragon Mariana Bellewether

Ilario
Ilario

Author: Mary Gentle

Publisher: Gateway

Published: 2013-08-29

Total Pages: 687

ISBN-13: 0575128844

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Abandoned and alone, the fosterling Ilario grows up as the King's Freak, surrounded by all the pomp, intrigue, and danger of the Iberian court. Fleeing a failed treacherous attack, Ilario crosses the sea to Carthage, where the mysterious Penitence shrouds the sky in darkness. There, a strange and awful destiny awaits the would-be painter, one that spans continents and kingdoms.

Constantine XI Palaiologos. Basileus
Constantine XI Palaiologos. Basileus

Author: Patrizio Corda

Publisher: Patrizio Corda

Published: 2020-02-14

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 8835372631

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1453 A.D. - Constantinople is under siege, about to fall under the terrible attacks by the Ottoman armies of Sultan Muhammad, in what will be one of the bloodier and more memorable war events in the medieval age and history as a whole. Constantine Palaiologos, the last emperor of the East, desperately tries to oppose with all his might to what is the foretold end of a thousand-year-old empire. But soon, isolated and without help, he realizes that all is lost and decides to disappear along with his world, throwing himself as a martyr among the enemies that have entered the city. But fate seems to have other plans for him. His time has yet to come. There may still be a way for him, and for his empire, to come back into existence. Whether it's in Constantinople, or at the extreme ends of the world.

Moldavia Moon Book One: The Wolf's Torment
Moldavia Moon Book One: The Wolf's Torment

Author: Stephanie Burkhart

Publisher: Desert Breeze Publishing In

Published: 2011-05

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1612520383

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It's 1865 in Moldavia, a country nestled against the shores of the Black Sea, and Crown Prince Mihai Sigmaringen returns after receiving an education in England. His best friend, Viktor Bacau joins him. Mihai is intent on modernizing his nation, but he's also a witch, and it's time he embraces his heritage. The tasks in front of him are many including getting married. Lady Theresa von Kracken arrives in Constanta as Mihai's intended. Mihai has vowed not to fall in love again, but Theresa manages to break the battlements around his heart.In an unfortunate twist of fate, Viktor is bitten by a werewolf. Viktor's transformation threatens everyone around him including his wife's safety and Mihai's happiness with Theresa. Viktor's bite is the wolf's torment.

The Terror of Constantinople (Death of Rome Saga Book Two)
The Terror of Constantinople (Death of Rome Saga Book Two)

Author: Richard Blake

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published: 2010-01-21

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13: 184894828X

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If you loved Gladiator and Spartacus, you'll love the second book in the DEATH OF ROME SAGA. 610 AD. Invaded by Persians and barbarians, the Byzantine Empire is tearing itself apart in civil war. Phocas, the maniacally bloodthirsty Emperor, holds Constantinople by a reign of terror. The uninvaded provinces are turning one at a time to the usurper, Heraclius. Just as the battle for the Empire approaches its climax, Aelric of England turns up in Constantinople. Blackmailed by the Papacy to leave off his career of lechery and market-rigging in Rome, he thinks his job is to gather texts for a semi-comprehensible dispute over the Nature of Christ. Only gradually does he realise he is a pawn in a much larger game.