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KUNATI BOOK PUBLISHERS
Infinity Publishing
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Category: Historic Fiction, Adventure, RomanceISBN: 978-1-4251-1999-7 Publisher: Trafford Publishing Price: $18.95 Cdn; trade paperback |
Description:An historic action story centered on the founding of York by the Romans, often laced with a dark humour and a twisting trace of romance.71 A.D.; Historic
Facts: Northern Britain is in turmoil. Brigantia has been usurped by the ageing king Venutius, one time consort of Cartimandua, its rightful queen. Following a stormy marriage, ‘Catey’ has wed ther former husband’s shield bearer, Vellocatus, and Rome will no longer abide Venutius’s constant warring. Petilius Cerialis, the new Roman governor, has ordered the building of a fortress at the junction of two rivers that meet in the very underbelly of the disputed kingdom. It is a place that Rome will soon call Eboracvm; it is a place that one day will be known as the ancient City of York. It is from this fortress that the Ninth Hispana Legion will, once and for, put an end to the rebellion of the northern tribes…. The Story: Set against the historical background of the founding or York, and the real life characters who made it happen, Eboracvm, The Village tells of the trials of two men and their families: the minor chieftain Cethen Lamh-fada, who lives where the two rivers meet; and the Roman engineer Gaius Sabinius, who arrives ahead of his legion with orders that will ultimately force Cethen from his home. This book is almost unique in its approach to the
history of the times. While
the narrative is filled with action and turmoil, it is also laced with a
dark humour that lights the never ending ironies of choice and
consequence, much of them strikingly similar to those faced by families
today. Whereas most historic
novels are either all action or loaded with romance, Eboracvm,
The Village, succeeds in offering only the best of each genre in a
hard, practical tale of Celtic Britain’s clash with the dominance of Rome. Share the journey of Cethen Lamh-fada and his sharp witted wife Elena, as their small family is forced north; a trek caused as much by the actions of their own people, as that of Rome. Read on as the Roman Gaius Sabinius finds his own life ever more entwined in their fate, most often to his detriment. From the first skirmish at Cethen’s small village to the inevitable clash of arms at the fortress of Stanwick, the story flows with a bittersweet reality. The author adds both insight and practical conjecture to the sparse facts that survive the times. The characters (and there are many) display a rich, down to earth cross-section of the Brigante people, and the Roman army that conquered their land.
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Reviews:
"I urge anyone yearning for not only quality historical fiction but a plain good story to pick up Eboracvm: The Village. Graham Clews does not disappoint. Clews brings Roman Birtain to life with this tale of three characters whose lives are torn apart and brought together by the circumstances of their time. These are not mere characters in a story but living, breathing, feeling people with their own flaws and strengths, people with whom the reader can laugh or despair, people that the reader understands and cares about. That they happen to be living in societies foreign and long gone to dust is incidental…The author has clearly done his research to make the foreign world of A.D. 70, if not familiar, then alive and real…" --Marg Gilks, author and editor
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