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From the back of the book:

Beneath every beloved legend there is a deeper legend still, etched in ancient stone. The Dragon and the Unicorn begins before the beginning of Time, as light first cools to matter, bearing within it the electron glow of lost Heaven. Attanasio’s epic tale of a quest for immortality spans all history, human and demihuman, from the dung fires on the steppes to the snows of the Himalayas, from the mudhut cities on the Euphrates to the glass and steel towers of tomorrow, from the hunt for the Unicorn’s horn to the ceaseless wards of elf and dragon, Celt and Roman. It is a quest that ends – and begins – in a legend-heavy place at the edge of the Western Sea, with the first cry of a King new born. A place called Tintagel. A King, the heir Pendragon, called Eagle of Thor, or … Arthor.

From the back of the book:

The demon Lailoken, Merlin to humankind, has groomed Pendragon’s son, the Eagle of Thor, to lead the doomed Celts against the Saxon, Pict, and Angle conquerors. In defeat will Arthor find his victory, and Camelot its triumph. Their light will shine across the ages, a beacon to humankind.

But Merlin is shocked to discover that his Eagle is a vicious, callow youth whose only joy is killing. With his Roman sword “Short-Life,” Arthor will bathe Tintagle in blood, unless another sword offers itself to his gore-slick hand. A sword that must be pulled from the star-stone at Creation’s radiant heart…

From the back of the book:

Arthor, Eagle of Thor, has triumphed through war. Now Britain – and destiny – are his to claim. Already rolling on the roads from Tintagel to Camelot is the great wheel that will become the round table.

But the perilous order promised by Arthor’s victory is threatened by forces beyond human ken. For Merlin has descended into Hell, to fend with the Fire Lords who give the Universe its shimmering form. And for the young king himself, there is a sacred Graal, and an earthly love, to seek …

From the back of the book:

From the back of the book:

From the ashes of Atlantis the legend of Avalon is born ...

The spiritual leaders of Atlantis have known for many years that the Sea Kingdoms were doomed. Even so, they are unprepared for the catastrophe when it occurs.

Micail and Tiriki, prince and princess, priest and priestess of the last island to fall, are separated during the escape and land on different shores of the island of Britain. As they work to establish new lives, their two communities take widely divergent paths. Once these opposing factions become aware of each other, conflict will be inevitable.

The full sweep of the rich history of Avalon is finally revealed in this magnificent and deeply moving tale, filled with memorable characters and hauting landscapes.

From the back of the book:

Kassandra - princess of Troy, prophetess of Apollo, reared with the Amazons and initiate of the Great Mother - relates her own version fo the siege of Troy. This is not the romantic clash of heroes over the beauteous Helen, but a tussle for power between venal humans; not the result of a squabble among the Olympian Gods, but of a bitterer, world-shaking battle between the ancient worship of the Earth Mother and the new, patriarchal pantheon. Above all, for gods and humans alike, it is the story not of men and war, but of the daily needs and desires of women...

From the back of the book:

A wounded Atlantean prince … a deadly battle between Dark and Light … and the sisters Deoris and Domaris, whose lives are changed utterly by the magic involving them. These are the elements of The Fall of Atlantis, Marion Zimmer Bradley's epic fantasy about that ancient and legendary realm.

On one side stand the Priests of the White Robe, guardians of powerful natural forces which could threaten the world if misused. Ranged against them are the Black Robes, sorcerers who secretly practice their dark arts in the labyrinth caves beneath the very Temple of Light. Caught between are Domaris and Deoris, daughters of the Archpriest Talkannon, trapped in a web of deathly sorcery – the same forbidden sorcery that could bring about The Fall of Atlantis.

From the back of the book:

With her mother's dying breath, Eilan, the fifth child of the High Priestess of Avalon, takes life.

The baby is taken to her father, King Coel, and raised in the Roman was as helena, but in the year AD259 the ten-year-old girl is returned to the mystical place of her birth. There she begins her training as a priestess, in the face of her Aunt Ganeda's determination that she shall fail.

Despite Ganeda's hostility, fired by her resentment over the death of Helena's mother, the child grows to be a gifted priestess, and on the moonlit night of her initiation she has a vision of the Roman, Constantius, the man she will love for the rest of her life. Her vision also reveals that he will father the one whose light will blaze across the world, the one who will free Britannia from Roman tyranny. But to be with him she must betray her sisters and turn her back on the security of Avalon, to build a new life in the danger-filled city of the enemy.

From the back of the book:

Eilan, daughter of the Druid's, is detined to serve as a virgin priestess in the Forest House of Avalon; Gaius, son of a Roman father and British mother, serves with the legions. Trapped between a love that can never be permitted and duty to their irreconcilable cultures, their hearts and minds are in turmoil as Rome and the tribes clash in the bitter struggle for Britain. Yet it is foretold by High Priestess Caillean that from their tragic union of Eagle and Dragon will come one day a defender of the land ...

From the back of the book:

Through the generations the women of Avalon prepare for the coming of the Defender, the sacred king who will guard the old ways of the britons and save their land from desctruction. On the holy isle of Avalon, hidden in the misst between the world of Faerie and the world of men, they wait ...

For high Priestess Caillean, facing the Roman Foe, salvation comes not through victory, but bitter sacrifice. Two hundred years later her successor Dierna faces a new enemy: the Saxon hordes who assail her people like savages. By the time of Viviane, Britain seems wholly lost. But a Merlin is made amongst the Druids once more, and the day of the Defender, who will come to be known as Arthur, draws close ...

From the back of the book:

"In my time I have been called many things: sister, lover, priestess, wise-woman, queen"

Morgaine, gifted with the sight and fated with her brother-lover's doom, recounts the glorious tragedy of Camelot's brief flowering - not as a tale of knightly deeds, but as a woman's rounded view of society in the crucible of change.

Through the lives of pious Guinevere, ambitious Morgause, Priestess of Avalon Viviane and her successor as Lady of the Lake, Morgaine herself, this rich and haunting epic reveals a greater threat to the Old People than the Saxons. For the spread of patriarchal Roman ways and a narrow Christianity seem likely to drive the ancient worship of the Mother forever into the mists...

I found the rapid alternation between the three principle characters - Jane Boleyn, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard .... read more ....

I found the rapid alternation between the three principle characters - Jane Boleyn, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard – to be a little distracting, but still you come to feel you know and understand them. It is an easy and entertaining read.

From the back of the book:

The year is 1539. Henry VIII must take another wife and the dangerous prize of the crown of England is won by Anne of Cleaves. Although she is fascinated by the glamour of her new surroundings, she can sense a trap closing around her.

Katherine Howard, meanwhile, is to flirt her way to the throne. But her kinswoman, Jane Boleyn is haunted by the past and the Boleyn inheritance of suspicion, betrayal and death. In this time of upheaval and uncertainty these three young woman must try to survive the most volatile court in Europe.

From the back of the book:

From the spectacle of gladiatorial combat to the intrigue of the senate, from the foreign wars that created an empire to the betrayals that almost tore it apart, the Emperor novels tell the remarkable story of the man who would become the greatest Roman of them all: Julius Caesar.

Brilliantly interweaving history and adventure, The Gates of Rome introduces an ambitious young man facing his first great test. In the city of Rome, a titanic power struggle is about to shake the Republic to its core. Citizen will fight citizen in a bloody conflict - and Julius Caesar will be in the thick of the action.

From the back of the book:

Julius Caesar is fighting hard for his place in the great empire of Rome ... The young Julius Caesar is serving on board a war galley, gaining a fearsome reputation. Then his ship is captured, and he is ransomed and then abandoned on the north African coast. After gathering a force of men powerful enough not only to gain vengeance on his captors but also to suppress an uprising in Greece, he returns to Rome a hero. But then Julius finds he must fight again. For a new crisis is threatening the city. In the unexpected form of a rebellious gladiator named Spartacus ...

From the back of the book:

For Julius Caesar, the time has come to enter the political battleground that has become Rome. Having proved his valor in the slaves' revolt, Caesar is strengthened by the love of a beautiful older woman – and by the sword of his loyal friend, Marcus Brutus. But it is Caesar's next move that will change history. With an army made in his own image, Caesar begins a daring charge through Gaul, across the English Channel, and to the wilds of tribal Britain.

Here, in a series of cataclysmic clashes, the legend of Julius Caesar will be forged. And while Caesar and Brutus battle the armies of the wilderness, their political adversaries in Rome grow ever more powerful. For when the fighting is over, the greatest danger to Julius Caesar will await him on the Tiber – with a man who wants Rome himself …

From the back of the book:

The year is 53 B.C. Fresh from victory in Gaul, Julius Caesar leads his battle-hardened legions across the Rubicon river. From here, there is no turning back from his destiny. Now the armies of Rome will face each other at last in a bloody civil war, led by the two greatest generals ever to walk the seven hills. Yet even as this monumental battle rages, another kingdom beckons Caesar – a world of ancient mysteries and languid sensuality and the seduction of an Egyptian Queen named Cleopatra, who will bear his only son. From the spectacles of the arena to the whispered plots of conspirators, The Gods of War follows Julius Caesar through politics and passion, ruthless ambition and private grief – and an extraordinary friendship marked by fierce loyalty … and bitter betrayal.

From the back of the book:

The barbarians had driven the Roman legions from the land. The savage Saxons speared through the heart of civilization, bringing darkness and cruelty. Only one man could hope to unite Britain and prevail against the pillaging hordes … Arthur, son of Pendragon.

Here his triumphant legend lives again in the fiery dreams of Merlin … in the passions of Lancelot … in the courage of the Round Table … and in the beauty of Queen Guinevere, whose forbidden love threatens to destroy Arthur’s dreams of a proud new nation.

Here is the dazzling epic of England’s past … the birth of the nation that gave America birth … told with the sweep and vigor of history and romance that only a master story teller can conjure.

An enjoyable, easy read; the characters are believable and likeable, but you don’t really connect with any one in particular, .... read more ....

An enjoyable, easy read; the characters are believable and likeable, but you don’t really connect with any one in particular, perhaps because there are so many main characters. I wasn’t left wanting to know more about them as is often the case when finishing a really good book.

He does have a tendency to stop, and spend far more time than would seem really necessary describing the life of a minor character, before returning to the real story; which can be a little frustrating.

From the back of the book:

A powerful epic that evokes the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse cultures of a thousand years ago.

For generations, the Erlings of Vinmark have taken their dragon-prowed ships across the seas, raising the lands of th Cyngael and Anglcyn peoples, leaving fire and death behind. But times change, and in a tale woven with consummate artistry, people of all three cultures find the threads of their lives unexpectedly entwined.

An odd book, more Arthurian adjacent than really to do with the legend. The story had its moments, but I found it rather .... read more ....

An odd book, more Arthurian adjacent than really to do with the legend. The story had its moments, but I found it rather slow in places. I never really found a connection with any of the characters, and probably the only word to describe finishing the book was relieved. Not a bad book, but I wouldn’t read it again.

From the back of the book:

Thundering down through the centuries comes the legend of chivalry carved out by Excalibur – the magic sword of Arthur Pendragon – with all the mysticism and heroic courage of the Arthurian legend transmuted to a time and a place remote from Camelot – but linked to it in the still desperate struggle against evil.

From the back of the book:

It is the summer of 405AD, and sixteen-year-old Succat has been torn from his home by Irish raiders and taken across the sea to be sold as a slave.

His repeated escape attempts lead to ever more savage beatings from his new masters, until he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Druid, Cormac. As Succat learns the ways of the Irish people, he realises that the cult so feared and hated by his fellow Britons may be his only chance of escape.

Welcomed into their brotherhood, Succat accepts a new name and experiences a vision so powerful that others believe he is marked for greatness. Yes in his heart he desires only to return home; but when the chance finally comes he finds only devastation. And so begins a journey that will lead him to Gaul, and the brutal life of a soldier facing the barbarian hordes across the Rhine.

From the back of the book:

In Portugal, the reprobate King Edward the Ninth has died by his own hand.

In England, a dark scenario conceived by the power-hungry Prime Minister, Thomas Waring, is about to be realized: the total destruction of the British monarchy in the twenty-first century.

And in the Scottish Highlands, a mystical emissary named Mr Embries – better known as “Merlin” – informs a young captain that he is next in line to occupy the thrown. For James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be – he is Arthur, the legendary King of Summer, reborn. But the road to England’s salvation is rocky and dangerous, with powerful enemies waiting in ambush: Waring and his ruthless political machine … and the agents of an ancient, far more potent evil. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned from the mists of legend. And Merlin’s magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries.

From the back of the book:

Taliesin is the first book of the Pendragon cycle: a magnificent epic set against the backcloth of Roman Britain and the legends of Arthur and Atlantis.

"I will weep no more for the lost, asleep in the water graves. The voices of the departed speak: Tell our story, they say. It is worthy to be told. And so I take my pen and write..."

So begins the tragedy of lost Atlantis, extinguished for ever in a hideous paroxysm of earth and sea. Out of the holocaust, three crippled ships emerge to bear King Avallach and his daughter to the cloud-bound isle of Ynys Prydein.

Here is another world, where Celtic chieftains struggle for survival in the twilight of Rome's power. One heroic figure towers over all, the Prince Taliesin, in whom is th sum of human greatness - granduer and grace, meekness and majesty, beauty and truth.

This is a tale that spans two worlds, a vision that sings in the heart, and a love that spawns the miracle and Merlin ... Arthur ... and a destiny that is more than a kingdom.

From the back of the book:

"Was there ever a time such as this? Never! And that is both the glory and the terror of it. If men knew what it was that loomed before them ... they would stop their mouths with their cloaks for screaming. It is their blessing, and their curse that they do not know. But I know; I, Merlin, have always known ..."

This is Merlin's story, the story of the Island of the Mighty - of warring battlechiefs and bloody Saecsen invaders, of the hidden Hill Folk and the waning power of Rome.

It is Merlin's story as none but he could tell it - a tale of love and savagery and madness. An all-consuming vision - of the glorious Kingdom of Summer ... of treachery and death ... of the saving of a babe new-born, and a sword in a stone ...

From the back of the book:

"Arthur is no fit king. Merlin's pawn, he is lowborn and a fool. He is wanton and petty and cruel - a sullen, ignorant brute.

All these things and more men say of Arthur. Let them.

When all the words are spoken and the arguments fall exhausted into silence, this single fact remains: we would follow Arthur to the very gates of Hell and beyond if he asked it. Show me another who can claim such loyalty.

'Cymbrogi,' he calls us: companions of the heart.

Cymbrogi! We are his strong arm, his sheild and spear, his blade and helm.

Cymbrogi! We are earth and sky to him. And Arthur is all theese things to us and more.

Ponder this. Think long on it. Only then, perhaps will you begin to understand the tale I shall tell you ..."

From the back of the book:

"I, Myrddin Emrys, was with Arthur from the beginning. I stood beside him on his darkest day. A day unlike any otherin the long history of our race - a day of deceit, and dread, and great glory. For on that day Arthur won the name he treasured above all others: Pendragon. That is a tell worth telling."

From the back of the book:

"Only that which endures beyond time is worth having. Well I know it. I, who have given all for the mastery of time and the elements, know the value of life ... Not for nothing am I called the Queen of Air and Darkness."

An old enemy arises and Arthur's dreams of establishing his Summer Realm face ruin when the sacred relic, the Holy Grail, vanishes as a result of a hideous betrayal.

From the back of the book:

Set in the Celtic twilight of an ancient Ireland, when myth was law and magic a force of nature, this is the tale of Sorcha, seventh child of a seventh son, the forbidding Lord Colum, and of her six beloved brothers.

The keep at Sevenwaters is a remote, strange, quiet place, guarded by silent men who slip through the woodlands clothed in grey, and keep their weapons sharp. For there are invaders outside the forest; raiders from across the seas, Britons and Vikings bent on destruction. But now there is also an invader inside the keep: the Lady Oonagh, a sorceress as fair as day, but with a heart as black as night. Oonagh captivates Lord Colum with her sensual wiles; but she cannot enchant the wary Sorcha. Frustrated in her attempts to destroy the family, Oonagh binds the brothers with a spell that only Sorcha can lift. If she fails, they will die.

Then the raiders come, and Sorcha is taken captive. Soon she will find herself torn between her duty to break the curse, and a growing, forbidden love for the warlord who is her captive.

From the back of the book:

The forests of Sevenwaters have cast their spell over Sorcha’s daughter Liadan, who, like her mother, has inherited the talent to heal and to see into the spirit world. The forest spirits warn Liadan that she must remain for ever at Sevenwaters if the sacred isles are to be won back from the Britons who took them by force. For they have seen in Liadan’s future a doomed romance, death; a child; and a terrible choice to be made.

Ireland is at war, raiders attack its shores – and a new faith threatens the old, dividing its people. In this dangerous landscape, one man is feared above all others. The Painted Man has earned himself a fearsome reputation as a ruthless mercenary, a canny trickster, a terrifying will o’ the wisp, raiding here, there and everywhere; then vanishing as if by magic.

Journeying home from her sister’s wedding, Liadan is taken captive by the Painted Man, who is revealed to be a man quite unlike his legend. Liadan is drawn to him, despite the ancient prophecy of doom, but can she reclaim her life and defy the spirits, or will a curse fall upon Sevenwaters because of her forbidden love?

From the back of the book:

Raised in an isolated cove on the beautiful Kerry coast, Fainne's childhood is a lonely one. But her beloved father teaches her all he knows of the magical arts, and every summer she looks forward to the arrival of her one friend, the gypsy boy, Darragh. Soon, though, her world will be changed forever by the arrivcal of her grandmother, Oonagh, the renowned and feared soceress.

Oonagh tells Fainne that she carries the blood of a cursed line of sorcerers and outcasts, and then she burdens her with a terrible task. Fainne must go to Sevenwaters, to the family she has never known, and use her power to thwart a prophecy that is near fulfilment. If the child of the prophecy lives to reclaim the sacred isles for the fair folk, Fainne will feel the full force of Oonagh's wrathful desire for revenge.

From the back of the book:

From the back of the book:

Far out in the trackless ocean lies a place of warm sea currents, of verdant islands. But the crossing is dangerous ...

Eyvind dreams of becoming a Wolfskin, a warrior devoted to the service of the war-god Thor. His closest friend, Somerled, a strange and lonely boy, has very different ambitions - yet a childhood oath binds these two to lifelong loyalty. Meanwhile across the water, on the Light Isles, Nessa is learning the ways of the mysteries - though neither the young priestess nor her people can realize what lies ahead for them ...

Eyving and Somerled follow their own very different paths: one becoming a servant of the Warfather, the other a scholarly courtier. A voyage of discovery, led by Somerled's brother Ulf, reunites the two friends in accompanying a group of settlers to some beautiful islands rumoured to lie across the western sea.

Ulf's new settlement begins in harmony with the native islanders, led by King Engus. But one day, on a trip to a holy place, a brutal murder occurs and that peace is shattered. It is now that Eyvind begins to feel the restraining ties of his boyhood oath ... and to realize what sort of future Somerled had in mind for himself all those years ago.

From the back of the book:

At his coming of age, Thorvald learns a devastating secret, and steals away on a perilous voyage in search of the father he has never known. His loyal friend Creidhe was never meant to be part of his desperate journey - but Thorvald has underestimated her.

Suspicious, frightened and ruled by a cruel tyrant, the Long Knife people of the Lost Isles are not what they weary travellers were expecting. The Unspoken sing away the souls of the newborn, and the chieftain of the isles answers to nobody. But then a baby is born, and Creidhe discovers the truth of the horrific curse the vengeful Unspoken have place on the Long Knife people. For the future of the islands depends on a visionary child: the powerful seer, Foxmask. Snatched away in infancy, the boy is held on the forbidding Isle of Clouds. To return himn to the Unspoken,a dn restore peace to the islands, teh Lond Knife people must endure the annual ritual of the hunt.

But there are deeper secrets in this battle for survival - and another, unthinkable way to lift the curse, one that the newcomers only discover when it may already be too late ...

From the back of the book:

Last in a line of proud Queens elected to rule the fertile lands of the Summer Country; Guardian of the Great Goddess herself; Warrior, lover and muse. Until now, a woman whose story has never been told ... Guenevere.

With a rare and intuitive magic, acclaimed novelist and historian Rosalind Miles brings to life a lengendary woman's greatest and most glorious time, revealing Guenevere's bravery, passion and inner torment as she ruled a truly ancient kingdom.

From the back of the book:

Camelot: Arthur and Guenevere are holding a glittering feast to celebrate their knights of the Round Table. But amidst the joy of the ceremony, one key figure is absent. Sir Lancelot du Lac has left court, sent away by Guenevere, who is tormented by a love for him she may neither honour nor deny.

As Guenevere struggles to reconcile duty and destiny, Lancelot, too, is torn by conflicting loyalties to his Queen and his King. Guenevere holds staunchly to her faith in her knight. But can she endure his absence - and the shattering news that she has a rival for his love.

From the back of the book:

In the heart of Camelot, Guenevere and Arthur are High King and Queen of a land at peace. But the old blood fueds still fester, and a new danger is born when the long-lost Holy Grail comes to light, together with word of a child who must find it to fulfil his destiny.

To Arthur, the salvation of the Round Table lies in the quest for the grail. But Guenevere fears this will scatter his knights far and wide, leaving Arthur defenceless just as Morgan le Fay brings her lifelong revenge to fruition and prepares to strike.

As the shadows darken around Arthur, Guenevere counts on the love of her own knight, Sir Lancelot of the Lake. But when Lancelot fails too, Guenevere faces a dual betrayal and finds herself fighting for her life...

From the back of the book:

Only daughter of Ireland’s ruling queen, Isolde has spent her girlhood on Avalon. Her life has been spent perfecting the skills that have made her the most noted healer of the isles, and preparing herself for the time when she must become Queen and Guardian of the Great Goddess herself.

And when the king’s nephew, Si Tristan of Lyonesse, is wounded so badly in battle that only Isolde can save him, the stage is set for the mythic tale of star-crossed lovers that the world knows so well.

From the back of the book:

Isolde’s time has come at last. The Queen of Ireland lies dying, relinquishing years of misrule to her patient and lovely daughter.

But on all sides Isolde faces cruel opposition. Sir Breccan, one of the old Queen’s knights, is determined that Ireland succumbs to the rule of men. In Cornwall, Sir Andred, nephew of Isolde’s feckless and unloving husband, King Mark, is preparing to rise against her.

Through all her trials, Isolde can count of Sir Tristan of Lyonesse, her faithful love of many years. But a French princess has heard of Tristan’s prowess and pledges to make him her own. Cast adrift, Tristan encounters a temptation he has never faced before.

Alone and under attack, can Isolde save her kingdom and her love?

From the back of the book:

From the back of the book:

In March 1999 Museum of London archaeologists made an astonishing discovery: during routine excavations at a site due for redevelopment in Spitalfields Market, they uncovered a limestone sarcophagus containing an ostentatiously decorated lead coffin. Inside were the remains of a young woman, obviously with wealthy connections, who had lived in the fourth century, during the twilight years of the Roman Empire. Although certain facts about her life and death are known, the picture remains tantalisingly incomplete. Inspired by this rare and exciting find, William Napier has recreated her world and imagined the unknowable in order to tell her story.

An epic tale of love and war, set amid the turmoil of the collapsing Roman Empire. From the blood-stained desert sands of Mesopotamia, to the barbaric wilderness and the dreaded painted tribesmen of northern Scotland, to the streets, courtyards and treacherous palaces of a small provincial capital called London, this is the story of a girl called Julia, and the two men she loves most: her stern and melancholy uncle, Lucius; and his ward, a young soldier called Marcus Flavius Aquila …

From the back of the book:

At twelve, she killed her first warrior. At twenty one, she defended her land against an invasion by the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. At forty, she led her people in a bloody revolt - and became a legend.

Set in Britain before the Romans came, Manda Scott's thrillingly imagined novel brings the brutal world of druids, dreamers, warriors and their gods to vivid life - the opening chapter in a story of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds...

From the back of the book:

Hailed as Boudica, the bringer of victory, Breaca now leads her people's resistance against the occupying legions of Rome. Opposing her is Julius Valerius, an auxiliary cavalry officer whose increasing brutality in the service of his god and emperor cannot sheild him from the ghosts of his past. Caught between them are two children, pawns in a game of unthinkable savagery, while in distant Rome the emperor Claudius holds the balance of live in his hands.

Continuing her acclaimed retelling of this great tale, Manda Scott has written a novel of uncomprimising mastery that captivates the heart and challenges the mind as Boudica and the man who calls himself Julius Valerius confront each other - and their own inescapable destinies ...

From the back of the book:

AD 57: Much of Britannia lies under Roman occupation. Only in the far West, where the Boudica leads a guerrilla war against the hated invader, does the flame of independence burn. To win freedom for her people and find the peace she craves, she must now take the fight to the enemy, to the very heartland of the Eceni.

Across the sea, Boudica’s half-brother has been named traitor by both sides. He too, seeks peace on a journey that takes him from the dreaming tombs of the ancestors to the cave of a god he no longer serves.

Only if these two meet can their people – and all of Britannia – be saved. But the new Governor has been ordered to subdue the tribes, and he has twenty thousand legionaries ready to stop anyone, however determined, from bringing Britain to the edge of revolt …

From the back of the book:

AD 60: the flame of rebellion that has been smouldering for twenty years of Roman occupation has flared into a conflagration that will consume the land and all who live in it.

There is no going back. Boudicca has been flogged and her daughters raped, and her son has burned a Roman watchtower in an act of blatant insurgency. This is the time to act: the Roman governor has marched his legions west to destroy the druidic stronghold of Mona, leaving his capital and a vital seaport hopelessly undefended in the face of twenty thousand warriors aching for vengeance.

But to crush the legions for all time, Boudica must do more than lead her army in the greatest rebellion Britain has ever known. She must find healing for herself, for the land, and for Graine – her eight-year-old daughter. Is revenge worth it under any circumstances, or is the cost more than anyone can bear?

Colchester is burning and London is lost without hope. Amidst fire and bloody revolution, Boudica and those around her must find what matters most, now and forever.

From the back of the book:

Offered up by her parents at the age of six to become a Vestal Virgin, one of the six hand-picked women who symbolically protected the Roman Republic, Aemilia has spent her entire adult life in the all-female Temple of Vesta, under the strictest guard.

But temptation has led her to commit a mortal sin, and she is sentenced to death as Virgins must die, buried alive in a pitch-black tomb. As the end draws near, Aemilia looks back over her claustrophobic, restricted life: the intense friendships she formed; the implacable enemies she made; and, finally, the passionate but forbidden romance which caused her downfall – and yet may be her only hope…

A tantalizing glimpse into a little-known, forbidden world, The Virgins Tale is the moving, erotic and highly-charged story of a woman who dared to risk everything for love.

I really enjoyed this book; prior to this the only books I had read about the period are The Other Boleyn Girl and The .... read more ....

I really enjoyed this book; prior to this the only books I had read about the period are The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, this book portrays a very different picture of the young Lady Elizabeth. The characters are engaging and believable, you feel for them and worry for them. It didn't matter that you knew how it would end, the story carried you along, always wanting to turn the next page.

The authors note reminds us that while most of the story is based on characters and events from historical record, it is a fictional book and explaining the dramatic license taken when dealing with certain issues.

From the back of the book:

England, 1536. Home to the greatest, most glittering court in English history. But beneath the dazzling facade lies treachery …

Elizabeth Tudor is daughter to Henry VIII, the most powerful king England has ever known. She is destined to ascend the throne, and deferred to as the King’s heiress, but that all changes when her mother Anne Boleyn – Henry’s great passion and folly – is executed for treason.

Elizabeth’s life alters in a heartbeat. A pawn in the savage game of Tudor power politics, she is disinherited, declared a bastard, and left with only her quick wits to rely on for her very existence. But Elizabeth is determined to survive, to foil those who want to destroy her – or who are determined to use her as a puppet for their own lethal ambition – and to reclaim her birthright …