The Theodosian Women

One woman battles the coming Dark Ages. "Twilight Empress" tells the little-known story of a remarkable woman: Placidia, sister to one of the last Roman Emperors. Roman Empress and Gothic Queen, Placidia does the unthinkable: she rules the failing Western Roman Empire. A life of ambition, power, and intrigue she doesn't seek, but can't refuse, her actions shape the face of Western Europe for centuries. A woman as well as an empress, Placidia suffers love, loss, and betrayal. Can her intelligence, tenacity, and ambition help her survive and triumph over scheming generals, rebellious children, and Attila the Hun?

After the Emperor’s unexpected death, ambitious men eye the Eastern Roman throne occupied by seven-year-old Theodosius II. His older sister Pulcheria faces a stark choice: She must find allies and take control of the Eastern court or doom the imperial children to a life of obscurity - or worse! Beloved by the people and respected by the Church, Pulcheria forges her own path to power.

A beautiful pagan. A ruler searching for a wife. Can a marriage of expedience change the course of an empire? Constantinople, AD 419. Athenais holds faint hope for her future. When the impoverished orphan’s male relatives offer her up as a consort for the emperor, she reluctantly agrees to study the philosophical arguments for the required conversion to Christianity. But while the accomplished scholar quickly falls for her imperial husband, she struggles with the court’s cutthroat political maneuvering and stubborn religious fanaticism.