What was it like for a young man to see his family killed by pirates in front of him, and how would he survive? Constantine – Almost a King – fills in a large historical gap to bring a startling historical figure to life. Constantine was a survivor who lived by his own rules and achieved what no other European has ever done – he is the only foreigner who rose to became a powerful noble in the 17th Century Siamese court. That much is known in the history books. But there is almost nothing published about his early life. The author has attempted to flesh out how he managed to achieve such lofty power in an exotic country in the 17th Century. Constantine would have had to face many challenges and in this semi-fictional noel he has imagined how he might have achieved such a powerful position. The latter half of the novel draws on his real-life experiences in Siam, where he built a successful trading business and in the process he became a powerful confidant of a dying king who raised him to the second most powerful position in the Kingdom.
