#TheWriteReads Blog Tour: Betrothal & Betrayal by Janet McGiffin

Betrothal & Betrayal is the first novel in a four-part series, The Empress Irini series, which will be based on a real life figure from the Byzantine period of history. When I was offered the chance to participate in this online blog tour, I was delighted to take the opportunity to learn about a part of history of which I had very sketchy previous knowledge. As someone who pursued sciences at school, I didn’t have the opportunity to study history at O level and therefore I enjoy well researched historical fiction, to help fill in the gaps. The first positive comment I must make on the book is the usefulness of the two maps at the start, one of the Empire of the Romans of the East and one of Constantinople circa 770 AD. As the main character journeys through the eastern region of the Roman empire, I found myself frequently consulting these maps.

The author, Janet McGiffin, tells the parallel stories of two seventeen year old girls whose fates will become entwined by the end of the novel, and, I suspect, throughout the series. Most of the narrative in this introductory novel is told from the perspective of Thekla, a poor village girl who at the start of the story has been waiting for two years for the return of her intended husband, Myrizikos from one of the Emperor’s wars. When he again fails to show up for the wedding ceremony and her brothers tell her that he has been enlisted in the Emperor Constantine’s elite guard, the Imperial Tagmata, Thekla sets off on a perilous journey to Constantinople to track him down. This dangerous pursuit is more appealing to her than a forced marriage to the village’s ancient ‘bonescraper’, which is her father’s solution to finding her a husband. By a stroke of luck, Thekla is hired to take care of a wealthy elderly woman and manages to travel a large part of her journey in the company of the affluent family and a mysterious ‘monk’ Brother Elias. The perils of the road are always present however, and there are several occasions when Thekla has to wield her hunting knife to fend off unwanted attentions from aggressive men. The book pulls no punches about the treatment of women and girls during this period of history.

There is no doubt that much research has gone into the writing of this novel, which is filled with descriptions of the geography, buildings, food, clothing, religious practices and customs of the time. Thekla’s travels and her places of refuge along the way are presented in minute detail, I presume with the intention to allow readers to get to know her personality and motives for making the journey as well as immersion in the historical setting. I suspect that this style of writing might be more appealing to older readers than the majority of the YA market for whom this book is intended. The pace picks up after Irini, a beautiful girl from Athens, has been married to the son of Emperor Constantine. From this point, the intrigues of different factions within the court drive the narrative in the final third of the book. I found the character of Elias to be the most intriguing in the novel, he appears to be a spy or agent for someone in power and I will be interested to find out whether he influences the outcomes of some of the powerful historical figures portrayed here, as the series develops.

I am grateful to The Write Reads for inviting me to join this blog tour and to Scotland Street Press for providing me with a copy of Betrothal & Betrayal to review. Do check out the other reviews written by my fellow bloggers on the tour schedule.