THE EMPRESS

A tale of romance and adventure during the turbulent years of the Byzantine Empire.

Constantinople, 1179: Princes Agnes of France is thirteen when she marries the heir to Byzantium, an empire unmatched in wealth, power and glamour.

But by the time she is sixteen, she is a widow, her husband killed by the power hungry Andronikos. Captivated by Agnes' beauty, Andronikos marries her. He is 65. For two years, Agnes is at the mercy of a depraved and power-crazed man. But as her eighteenth birthday dawns, she is once again a widow as Andronikos too is dead, torn limb from limb by an angry mob. Adrift in a court overrun with intrigue, Agnes falls in love with Theodore, a man who thirsts for rebellion. But when they are discovered Agnes is banished to a convent and Theo must stay away if he is to survive.

Years later, they discover each other again. Somehow they build a life together, but nothing could have prepared them for one of the most shocking and bloody events of the 12th century as the Crusaders lay siege to Constantinople. Separated from Theodore, only Agnes' French blood saves her from an horrific death. And as the city erupts in flames around her, she goes in search of Theodore, because she will not leave the city without him.

Meg Clothier studied Classics at Cambridge, spent a year sailing a yacht from England to Alaska, then - after a few false starts - became a journalist. Her last job was working for Reuters in their Moscow bureau before coming back to London to study for a Master’s degree in post-Soviet politics.