Savioress of the West: A Novel of Ancient Byzantium and the Muslim Incursion

This autobiographical novel is told through the eyes of the historical Empress Martina, wife of Heraclius Flavius, who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from 610 to 641 AD. Together Heraclius and Martina rescued the dying Eastern Roman Empire from the Persians who had recently captured the Middle East and Egypt from the Romans. After an unsuccessful Persian siege of Constantinople, the Empire’s capital, Heraclius, with Martina at his side, took the war—the first Christian Holy War—to the center of Persia and, through generalship worthy of Caesar or Alexander, destroyed the Persian State after 600 years of Roman attempts. However, several years after Heraclius and Martina’s successful victory over the Persians, an incapacitated Heraclius and the Romans were unable to contain the Muslim onslaught that suddenly and unexpectedly appeared out of the Arabian Desert. But with Martina's help in finding the technological weapon, Greek Fire, the Romans halted the Muslim onslaught and their advance into Europe.