Title: The Sheen on the Silk
Author: Anne Perry
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine
Release date: March 23rd, 2010

The Byzantine city of Constantinople was the heart of Christendom during late antiquity and the medieval period, yet it’s usually only studied in upper-level history courses. A city of legend and power, Constantinople was the center of the world. The Christians in the East had a different culture from those in the West, a different style of dress, a different church, and a more mystical way of thinking.

The Sheen on the Silk is the story of Anna Lascaris, who disguises herself as a eunuch called Anastasius Zarides, in order to work as a physician in Constantinople, where she hopes to discover how her fraternal twin brother Justinian was involved in the murder of Bessarion Comnenus, a leading figure in the fight for the Orthodox Church to maintain its sovereignty. The city of Constantinople was destroyed by Crusaders 70 years before the story begins, and the people are growing anxious as another Crusade is rumored to be on the horizon. As Anastasius, Anna must discover what happened to her brother, hiding her true identity and the secrets in her own past, while the web of political intrigue grows tighter around her.

The story is fast-paced, the mystery is pretty interesting as it develops, and the characters keep you guessing. They are all likeable, even the “villains”—many of the characters have understandable motivations or sympathetic reasons for the heinous things they sometimes do, and it’s difficult not to at least grudgingly admire them (though I’ll admit I found all the regret expressed over the death of one particular character confusing). Fortunately, the most likeable and admirable character in the story is Anna herself; she’s a woman of intelligence and skill, who is consistently honest and noble, refusing to lie to or flatter even those who have power over her.

The “woman-posing-as-a-man” plot device works better here than usual, because of Anna’s choice to pose as a eunuch; it’s convincing, since eunuchs are a separate class, physically different from either men or women. Because the reader has most likely never met a eunuch there’s a helpful lack of a point of comparison. This status allows Anna to have an advanced profession and be viewed by other characters as an adult, which would be impossible if she posed as a teenage boy.

The romance in The Sheen on the Silk is also handled well; it grows naturally out of the circumstances, and has an effect on the events of the story and their outcome. It’s not angsty or ridiculously dragged out; Giuliano and Anna get flickers of awareness of their feelings, but are not prone to examine them too closely. Giuliano’s attraction to a supposed eunuch is not played for laughs or even made much of beyond his bewilderment.

The only real disappointment in this book is that the setting is somewhat under-described. The historical place and time are used to create a unique political atmosphere, but the writing felt light on sensory detail. I can picture Venice easily, but Constantinople is new to me; I want to smell the spices in the air, see the Byzantine architecture crumbling and burnt before me, taste the olives, wine and cheese. There are points where the author touches on these details, but somehow Byzantium is not described with the richness I expected. Also, apart from Anna and Zoe Chrysaphes, a character meant to represent the soul of Byzantium, few of the characters are described in any detail that helped me to visualize them.

As for the religious aspects of the story, I didn’t feel the sense of mystery and the acceptance of the inscrutability of God that are characteristic of Orthodoxy. The person who best represents that openness in the book is Anna Lascaris herself, but the religious caste is portrayed as power-hungry and lacking faith in God (instead trusting in themselves to “help” God). Just one priest that represented the spirit of the Orthodox faith would have made the conflict between the Roman and Orthodox churches seem so much more meaningful. Only the characters who doubt that the church matters at all ask the important spiritual questions.

And important spiritual questions are asked, in a way that’s mostly satisfying and not preachy. The characters frequently revisit the question of God’s apparent silence, and in the case of Roman Bishop Palombara, this spiritual search rings especially true. Anna wonders how much the rituals and ordinances of a church matter to God himself, and whether such things are really worth dying for. Often she responds to spiritual questions with statements that I think are meant to be profound, but I usually found them confusing and modern-sounding. But ultimately, for Anna the matter comes down to an issue of freedom and sovereignty: Whether the beliefs of the church are true or not, it’s wrong for others to force the Byzantines to give up their convictions. I can agree completely.

Overall, the book’s strong points outweigh its flaws, and I found the story engrossing and the characters fascinating. If you’re looking for a historical novel with a realistic heroine and a tender, understated romance in an unusual setting, The Sheen on the Silk is a very good choice.

Purchase The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry.

This book is an ARC given to me by Marcia at The Printed Page.