Eileen Stephenson was born in Texas but has spent most of her life in the Washington, D.C. area. She has degrees from Georgetown University and George Washington University, although in nothing at all related to the Byzantines. It was only many years later that John Julius Norwich's book, A Short History of Byzantium, got her hooked on this endlessly fascinating civilization. She found that there were few novels written about the Byzantines and decided to remedy that situation.

You can visit her website, eillenstephenson.com, and blog to learn more about the Byzantines. She can also often be found commenting in Byzantine history Facebook groups, and you can follow her on Twitter, @Byzyeileen, and on BookBub.