In 717 AD, Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), appeared doomed. In the preceding eighty years, Muslim Arabs had captured much of North Africa and the Middle East, and were poised to take Constantinople. To save Byzantium, the senate asked a Roman General, Leo III, to become Emperor. Leo and his brilliant son Constantine V radically altered the Byzantine imperial system militarily and culturally. Leo developed a novel idea - that God was angry with the Byzantine Christians because they worshiped Christian icons, relics, and pagan idols, thus ignoring the Second Commandment. God would favor the Byzantines only if they destroyed their icons and purified Christianity. Leo's policy set in motion a century-long conflict between the iconoclast (icon breaker) emperors and the iconophiles (icon lovers). This religious struggle culminated in a final battle to define Byzantine Christianity and the control of the Empire. This novel recounts who won, why and how.

With her trademark warmth and powerful characters, Winter's Daughter is a stunning new Victorian saga - about a young child separated from her mother, and the family who bring her in from the cold. 'As always, Val tells it from the heart . . . A stirring story of faith, hope and charity will enthral you' Peterborough Telegraph Hull, 1856. James Ripley and his wife Moira have always looked out for the poor of Hull. When, during one stormy night, there is a flood in a nearby cellar - a popular shelter for the homeless - James rushes to help. Among those rescued is a dark-haired little girl who speaks a language no one can understand. Some say that she came to the cellar with her mother, but no one knows where the mother is now. Concerned for the child's safety, James is unsure of what to do. Where has the girl's mother disappeared to? And what can be done to help the homeless who have lost the only shelter they knew? A stunning new story of family, love and the importance of kindness, from the Sunday Times bestselling author Val Wood. Praise for Val Wood: 'A heart-warming story filled with compelling action' Rosie Goodwin 'Hull's answer to Catherine Cookson' BBC Radio 4's Front Row 'Wonderfully fully-fleshed characters are the mainstay of [Val Wood's] stories' Peterborough Telegraph 'With fully developed characters and a compelling story, it's no wonder the author won the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction for her debut... A great choice for a book club' Belfast Telegraph

This book is both a history of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and a description as it would have appeared in 1906 when this book was first published. There are many beautiful watercolor paintings depicting both scenes and people encountered. The author describes each with much information about the relevant facts.