#AHAReads 1: Theodora by Stella Duffy

My list of books to read for the #AHAReads summer reading challenge contains no novels. However, one of the items of the challenge checklist is:

Read a piece of historical fiction (novel, story, poem, play) set in the time or place you study.

Man plans, God laughs, and the first book I have finished is a work of historical fiction, Stella Duffy's Theodora. The novel is set in the sixth century; I study the sixth century. Tick!

Let me introduce it to you by means of the blurb:

Justinian took a wife: and the manner she was born and bred, and wedded to this man, tore up the Roman Empire by the very roots. ~ Procopius

Charming, charismatic, heroic - Theodora of Constantinople rose from nothing to become the most powerful woman in the history of Byzantine Rome. In Stella Duffy's breathtaking new novel, she comes to life again - a fascinating, controversial and seductive woman. Some called her a saint. Others were not so kind...

When her father is killed, the young Theodora is forced into near slavery to survive. But just as she learns to control her body as a dancer, and for the men who can afford her, so she is determined to shape a very different fate for herself. From the vibrant streets and erotic stage shows of sixth century Constantinople to the holy desert retreats of Alexandria, Theodora is an extraordinary imaginative achievement from one of our finest writers.

The beautiful cover of the British hardback

I have had Theodora checked out from the library since before Christmas, so it has been in my to-be-read pile for awhile. Now, my eyes are usually much bigger than my stomach when it comes to helping myself to books, so the fact that it sat around for so long before I began reading it is not immediately damning. And although I study the sixth century, I am not an expert on Byzantium, so I was free to read from a position of relative ignorance, without the attention to historical accuracy that I would bring to a period I know better.

Enough hedging: I found this an uneven and baffling but ultimately very readable book. As a character, Theodora is gripping and believable. My favourite part of the novel featured her as a child and teenager, where she reminded me of that alleged quote of Marilyn Monroe's, 'I wasn't the prettiest. I wasn't the most talented. I simply wanted it more than anyone else.' The young Theodora's determination and ambition make her a compelling character. Duffy herself is an actress and director, and the parts of the book that feel most alive are those in which Theodora is learning her trade as a performer, performing onstage, or reflecting on performances she has given.

The lengthy middle of the novel addresses Theodora's religious conversion and sets up an unconvincing narrative of a trans-regional east Mediterranean network of Monophysite espionage and the attempts of its members and leader to become the power behind the east Roman throne. I wanted so much to like this portion of the book. Historical fiction authors often don't take religion seriously, either pushing belief to the background or making their characters spirited freethinkers who challenge the hidebound conventions of their time. In an odd way, Duffy's depiction of sixth-century monastic life and the experience of religious conversion feels like the most historically accurate portion of the book: it is well-developed and given significant space in the story; it contains some of the book's best writing; it is grippingly physical in its descriptions of emotional experiences. But on a character level, I struggled to reconcile the ambitious, iron-willed performer we were introduced to in the first third of the book with the Monophysite operative she became in the middle third of the book. In other words, I had trouble understanding Theodora's motives for conversion while also being drawn in by Duffy's depiction of what a conversion experience was like.

The final third of the book, in which Theodora meets Justinian and they marry, was the least satisfying portion of the book. While reading, I often found myself wondering what someone who knows Procopius' Secret Histories very well would make of this book--from my partial knowledge, Duffy often seemed to be in dialogue with Procopius' stories, either to expand them or contradict them. This seemed particularly true of her portrait of Justinian, who comes across as a baffling cipher. What motivates this character? Why does he do what he does? Who knows--certainly not this reader, who found the plot twist of a celibate Justinian displaying astonishing sexual prowess particularly bewildering. Theodora's feelings towards Justinian, and relationship with him (bedding aside) are a bit more convincing and believable, though it felt like Duffy tried and failed to transcend Procopius' astonished horror at the marriage of an emperor and a former actress. Her explanation that Justinian's staff brought in Theodora as an expert on performance, her advice succeeded, cue a relationship of mutual respect, felt overly tidy. Procopius, in telling a better story, gets the last word on this one.

However, the book ends on a high note, with Theodora and Justinian's imperial coronation. After the disappointments of the previous two-thirds of the book, Duffy returns to her strengths, describing how Theodora approaches being empress as the most demanding and rewarding performance of her lifetime.

All in all, the history in this book worked better for me than the fiction. It has been well-received by other readers; try it yourself and see what you think!