Set in Augustan Rome, Render Unto Caesar is the story of Hermogenes, a merchant from Alexandra, who travels to the capital to recover a debt owed to his late father, only to find himself ensnared in the financial machinations of Vedius Pollio, the fabulously rich plutocrat, notorious for feeding unsatisfactory slaves to the lampreys in his pond. Refusing to be intimidated by Pollio who seeks to brush him aside as an impudent barbarian, Hermogenes, politely persists with his requests until he  finds himself arrested and accused of plotting to kill a consul.

 

Still refusing to be cowed, Hermogenes sets out to discover what is really at the bottom of the plot to kill the consul. When his own life is threatened he gets himself a bodyguard in the form of a celebrated female gladiator fallen on hard times. Together they manage to outwit the cabal monstrous Roman aristocrats.

 

Well researched and full of colour, Render Unto Caesar brings first century Rome to life with all its arrogance, cruelty and splendour.

 

Set in the fifth century Eastern Roman Empire, Imperial Purple is the story of Demetrias, a weaver in a state factory, and her husband Symeon who are inadvertently caught up in a plot to overthrow the emperor Theodosius II .

As ever with Gillian Bradshaw, the research is meticulous and the period is convincingly evoked. But what makes this book special is the fact that though the backdrop is high politics, the story is primarily about domestic life. The central characters are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events and the focus is on their struggle to remain a family unit despite the enormous pressures that seem determined to destroy them.

A richly detailed setting that makes the ancient world feel as real and immediate as the street outside your front door, strong, believable characters, and a compelling emotional narrative make this a really enjoyable read.

Well-written, with a character-driven plot and a strong emotional narrative, Island Of Ghosts is the story of Ariantes, the leader of a group of Sarmatian warriors, barbarian auxiliaries brought to Britain to be stationed beside Hadrian's Wall.

 

Ariantes' arrives with divided loyalties. He and his followers were incorporated into the Roman army after a defeat and feelings are still raw on both sides. Regarded with contempt by the Roman military establishment, he struggles to keep his followers from a suicidal mutiny, a task made all the harder when indigenous Celtic tribes begin to exploit their divided loyalties.

 

I have often wondered how successfully barbarian warriors managed to integrate after entering the Roman army en bloc. The loss of one identity and the struggle to take on  a new one must have been formidable. Gillian Bradshaw brings this rather academic question  to life by focusing on the personal. There is plenty of careful research in this book but at its heart is a love story that is both convincing and moving. That is not something one finds too often in fiction set in the ancient world.

 

 Set in Constantinople in the sixth century, this is the story of John, the illegitimate son of the empress Theodora. She was the eponymous bearkeeper's daughter, as well as being a former prostitute and actress who climbed her way out of poverty to become the most powerful woman in the world.

 

The story begins with John as a young man, arriving at the Byzantine court unexpectedly, not knowing whether his mother will acknowledge him , not even knowing whether she truly is his mother. It's a gamble that might have ended in his execution. Instead, Theodora welcomes him to the court and finds him a position. But on one condition: his identity must remain a secret.

 

This is a wonderfully engrossing novel. The characters are strongly depicted, the setting vividly evoked, the intrigues and dramas of the Byzantine court convincingly depicted. I devoured this book in a couple of days and all the time that I was reading it, I half-believed myself to be living amid the glittering mosaics and bejewelled icons of Justinian and Theodora's court.

I liked this book as much as the first book in Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy, but not more. That is, this is still enjoyable, and I like the world and characters, but in the Arthurian sweepstakes, this just isn't in win, place or show. I like Bradshaw enough to mark her among my favorites, but I prefer her straight historical fiction--works such as The Beacon of Alexandria. It just might be she has such stiff competition in this subgenre, one I've read widely in. Bradshaw is a graceful, very readable writer, this was well-paced, and I tore right through it. She's a better writer for instance than Jack Whyte. Except Whyte distinguishes himself in his Arthurian series by eschewing any tinge of fantasy--his Excalibur is special because it's forged from a meteorite for example. Bradshaw's book is historical fantasy. Not anachronistic such as T.H. White--set in post-Roman Dark Ages rather than a Middle Ages that never was, but still very much a magical world where sorcery is real. Bradshaw is about as good a writer as Marion Zimmer Bradley from what I remember , and I prefer these books so far to Mists of Avalon--which I didn't like much for a number of reasons. Yet Bradley's is more memorable not just for her Pagan reinterpretation of the legend but for her emphasis on the female characters. And finally, Bradshaw just isn't as fine a writer as Mary Stewart in her Merlin Trilogy nor T.H. White whose Once and Future King is my gold standard. Although as I said, this book really only suffers in comparison. I have nothing to really complain or criticize about this book--just that I don't feel it's a standout. The trilogy focuses on the figure known as Gawain in the legends (Gwalchmai here). In this novel he's been with Arthur for nine years. They story is told by his servant, Rhys ap Sion, who meets him when Gwalchmai is on a quest to find a lost love. Rhys shares Gwalchmai's dream to serve "the light" and decides to follow Gwalchmai. And actually, if I do have a complaint about the book it's just how much we hear about the "Light" and the "Dark" and how black and white many of the characters are as a result.