The Most Poweful Woman in History You've Never Heard Of.
Empress Theodora | The Inspiration Behind Hasting | The Empress and Her Wolf
Welcome to the newsletter, where history, storytelling, and inspiration meet. Every week, I share some of the fun historical research I’ve done while writing my novels, writing reflections (and sometimes tips), and sharing updates on my work and journey. If you were forwarded this message, you can join the weekly newsletter here.
Today’s Dispatch
Viking History: Empress Theodora and the Rus.
Writing and Publishing: The Inspiration Behind Hasting’s Personality.
Author Update: The Empress and Her Wolf
This week’s book recommendation.
Viking History
Empress Theodora and the Rus.
Theodora of Byzantium (c. 815–867) is a name often overlooked in most history books, yet her reign profoundly shaped the spiritual and political fabric of the empire. Plucked from the provinces in a "bride-show" to wed Emperor Theophilos, she was intelligent, composed, and devout. Though Theophilos was an ardent iconoclast and violently opposed religious images, Theodora quietly maintained her belief in icons, hiding them and venerating them in secret.
When Theophilos died in 842, Theodora seized the moment. As regent for their son Michael III, she ruled the Byzantine Empire in her own right. Her first act was momentous: she convened a council to restore the veneration of icons, ending decades of religious conflict. Her bold move is still commemorated in Orthodox churches today as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”
Under her regency, Byzantium knew relative peace and economic growth. She negotiated treaties with Arab powers, stabilized the borders, and sent successful expeditions to Crete, Egypt, and Sicily. She governed with shrewd political instinct by removing threats, installing loyal administrators, and holding her position until her teenage son pushed her aside in a palace coup. Even then, she lived on in quiet dignity until her death in 867, later canonized for her role in the restoration of Orthodoxy.
And yet—what if there was more to her story?
In my upcoming novel, The Empress and Her Wolf, Hasting, a legendary Viking chieftain, arrives in Constantinople in 848 as part of a Rus expedition. These early contacts between the Norse and Byzantines are well-documented, with merchants, warriors, and wanderers navigating the Dnieper to reach the empire’s gilded gates. What begins as a mercenary alliance soon erupts into something far more dangerous.
Writing and Publishing
The Inspiration Behind Hasting’s Personality.
When I set out to write The Saga of Hasting the Avenger, I knew I wanted to capture more than just swords and longships. I wanted to breathe life into a character who could lead men, defy kings, cross oceans, and carry the weight of both glory and grief. To do that, I needed someone real to model him after—someone larger than life.
I didn’t have to look far.
My grandfather, Michel Adrien, grew up in Nazi-occupied France and came of age in a world still reeling from war. At just 19, he became the youngest man in France to earn his ship captain’s license—a feat that marked the beginning of a remarkable journey. Through a mix of courage and charm, he convinced a skeptical local bank to finance a larger fishing vessel, then sailed it to Senegal. There, he built a career that would become legendary: winning the national tuna fishing derby five years in a row. He did it with the first and only mixed-race crew in the region—black and white men working side by side under his command, decades before such a thing was common.
Michel was a man who did not ask permission to succeed. He thrived in chaos, navigated the storms of life with instinct and fury, and carved out his path where none had existed before. He was respected, feared, and at times misunderstood. Eventually, he built a commercial fishing empire that spanned the globe, from France to Senegal, to Peru and Japan.
When I began shaping Hasting’s personality, I found myself returning again and again to Michel’s story. His tenacity. His wild ambition. His ability to lead and his struggle with solitude.
If you sense something deeply human beneath the myth of Hasting, it’s because he’s drawn in part from a man I knew—a man who truly lived.
Author Update
The Empress and Her Wolf
All month long, I’ll be promoting The Empress and Her Wolf, book 5 of the Hasting Saga. Here’s the blurb:
Power. Revenge. Forbidden love in the heart of a dying empire.
When Viking warlord Hasting arrives at the gates of Constantinople, he knows he can’t conquer it. Not with deeds of arms alone. But fate has other plans.
A failed raid turns into a devil’s bargain: serve Empress Theodora as her sword-for-hire, or die. Hasting chooses survival and quickly proves himself more capable than the generals she no longer trusts. But the empire is a viper’s nest of betrayal, and when an attempt to scare off his men ends in the death of his lover, Hasting’s mission changes.
He came for wealth and glory. Now, he wants blood.
But revenge in Miklagard is no simple feat. The city runs on whispers, not war cries. Enemies hide behind silks and smiles. And as Hasting grows closer to the empress—ally, ruler, and eventually lover—he finds himself torn between love and vengeance.
One wrong move could cost him everything.
Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian, Peter Gibbons, and Conn Iggulden, The Empress and Her Wolf is a heart-pounding saga of war, loyalty, and ambition set against the glittering, dangerous world of the Byzantine Empire.
Book Recommendations
Call of the Open Sea
Blurb:
This is one of those stories that sounds so improbable that, were it fiction, we would think it unbelievable. But it's a true story. Michel Adrien’s autobiographical memoir chronicles his extraordinary journey from the war-torn countryside of rural France to becoming one of the wealthiest men in the nation. Leaving behind a life of poverty and wartime scarcity, Adrien embarked on a bold venture into West Africa, where he built a commercial fishing empire that played a pivotal role in the economic development of several post-colonial West African countries.
Extraordinary accomplishments punctuate Adrien’s life: from his triumph as a champion tuna fisherman and the first European to employ a mixed African-European crew, to his defiance of Russian economic threats and rallying of allies to safeguard his enterprises, to his ultimate act of generosity in gifting his Senegalese armament for the nation’s future prosperity. His journey is a testament to personal ambition, resilience, and a profound exploration of the moral complexities of navigating decolonization and the Cold War.
Translated by his grandson, this first memoir chronicling Michel’s life up to 1975 offers a rare, firsthand account of historical events from a unique perspective, providing valuable insights into the intersections of power, race, and humanity. Michel Adrien’s story is a poignant reminder that truth can be stranger than fiction, and his perspective is worthy of reflection.
Call of the Open Sea is a Winner of the Prix des Ecrivains de Vendée award, 2018.
And, as always…
Buy my novels!
Theodora was the inspiration for my Empress Eudekia, a character in 4 of my novels and an MC/narrator of one, Empress & Soldier.