The Emperor's Whore

Book excerpt: The final novel in the Mortimer Quartet rounds the story out. Paul has had another major historical success with The White Hart a novel about Richard the Second. Joseph is working on the story of Antinous the boy lover of the Emperor Hadrian. Egged on by Chris Patsos, Joseph struggles to find a unique way into the Antinous story, Paul receives a mysterious present from Esther Fanning. All along this has been Paul Barclay's story and he finally sees the overall picture that has ruled his life for fourteen years. It is in the final story The Emperor's Whore that he understands the power, the games and manipulation that have made both he and Joseph so immensely wealthy. The Mortimer Quartet is an extraordinary journey through the lives of a close knit group of people whose aim was domination, promoting the ones they chose, and the accruing of money and power.