Ross Laidlaw: 2 books

'A tremendous story . . . the incursion into the empire of the strangest and most frightening of the barbarian invaders -- and he tells it with great verve and vigour. His prose has a pace, he has a keen eye for the significant detail, and manages the big scenes confidently' -- Allan Massie, The Scotsman Early...

Nephew of a semi-literate peasant, Justinian I was one of the most fascinating of the Roman emperors. His reign marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his prolific building works yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, which remains the third largest church in Christendom....