. . 145BC - CALABRIA, ANCIENT ROME. After years of spilling blood for Rome, Gaius Furius Paullus has returned home to spend his remaining days working quietly on the family farm.But it seems death has stalked Paullus from the battlefield. Just days after his arrival, bodies start appearing - murdered and mutilated. And as the deaths stack up, and panic spreads, the war hero becomes the prime suspect. After all, Paullus has killed countless enemies on the battlefield - could he have brought his habit home with him?With the psychological effects of combat clouding every thought, Paullus must use all his soldier's instincts to hunt the real killer. Because if they are not brought to justice soon, he may become the next victim.THE RETURN is the breathless, epic new thriller from one of the world's best historical novelists - for fans of Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden, Ben Kane and Bernard Cornwell.____________________________ Praise for Harry Sidebottom's historical thrillers: 'A storming triumph' - DAILY TELEGRAPH 'An extraordinarily vivid take on the ancient world' - EVENING STANDARD 'Absorbing, rich in detail and brilliant' - THE TIMES 'Relentless, brutal, brilliant' - BEN KANE________________________*** GET READY FOR THE RETURN IN 2020 - HARRY SIDEBOTTOM'S BREAKOUT HISTORICAL THRILLER IS NOW AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER IN HARDBACK, EBOOK & AUDIOBOOK ***

    saw the corrupt and bloody reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as well as the Year of the Four Emperors. It also saw the rise of Vespasian, the destitute son of a provincial senator who brought peace to the empire after years of strife, court intrigue, and murder. Written from the perspective of Caenis, a female slave who was Vespasian's forbidden love, the future emperor advances in his climactic struggle for power. But as Vespasian brings hope to the people of Rome...he brings only despair to the one woman who loves him most.

    With the very real possibility that Rome might become a republic once more, the ambitions of a few are about to bring untold corruption, chaos and bloodshed. Aulus Caecina Severus, hero of the campaign against Boudica, is caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow Caesar's dynasty, where he will commit treason, raise a rebellion, and face torture and intrigue. But is it really all for the good of Rome? The boundary between service and self-preservation is far from clear, and keeping to the dangerous path he's chosen requires all Severus' skills: as a cunning soldier and, increasingly, a deft politician. As the Year of the Four Emperors unfolds, the mighty Roman empire will be plunged into anarchy and civil war… The Last Caesar , the first in the Aulus Severus Adventures, is perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane

    The stranger is a Sicilian, a victim of the island's corrupt Roman governor, Verres. The senator is Marcus Cicero—an ambitious young lawyer and spellbinding orator, who at the age of twenty-seven is determined to attain imperium—supreme power in the state. Of all the great figures of the Roman world, none was more fascinating or charismatic than Cicero. And Tiro—the inventor of shorthand and author of numerous books, including a celebrated biography of his master (which was lost in the Dark Ages)—was always by his side. Compellingly written in Tiro's voice, Imperium is the re-creation of his vanished masterpiece, recounting in vivid detail the story of Cicero's quest for glory, competing with some of the most powerful and intimidating figures of his—or any other—age: Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, and the many other powerful Romans who changed history. Robert Harris, the world's master of innovative historical fiction, lures us into a violent, treacherous world of Roman politics at once exotically different from and yet startlingly similar to our own—a world of Senate intrigue and electoral corruption, special prosecutors and political adventurism—to describe how one clever, compassionate, devious, vulnerable man fought to reach the top.

    A day out with comrades, brutal gladiator fights, a bet with disastrous consequences. A Roman soldier’s much anticipated payday plays out in very different ways to those he expected.The German frontier, AD 12. Legionary Marcus Piso is set to enjoy a four monthly payday with his comrades. Wine, food and gladiatorial entertainment are on offer, and his purse is full.But thanks to a dishonest bet maker, events take on a very dangerous life of their own...The Arena is a prequel to Ben Kane's upcoming novel, Hunting the Eagles, the second in the new gripping three-part series, Eagles of Rome. It also includes a sample chapter from the new book.

    Roma recounts the tragedy of the hero-traitor Coriolanus, the capture of the city by the Gauls, the invasion of Hannibal, the bitter political struggles of the patricians and plebeians, and the ultimate death of Rome’s republic with the triumph, and assassination, of Julius Caesar.     Witnessing this history, and sometimes playing key roles, are the descendents of two of Rome’s first families, the Potitius and Pinarius clans:  One is the confidant of Romulus. One is born a slave and tempts a Vestal virgin to break her vows. One becomes a mass murderer. And one becomes the heir of Julius Caesar. Linking the generations is a mysterious talisman as ancient as the city itself.     Epic in every sense of the word, Roma is a panoramic historical saga and Saylor’s finest achievement to date.

    Memnon, an African scout, comes to Britain with his cavalry unit. When he saves the life of a beautiful young attendant of the Empress, he becomes aware of tensions within the imperial house. The bitter war tests them all to the limit, and if any of them are to survive, it can only be through their friendship.

    But when Valeria, a senator's daughter, is sent to the Wall for an arranged marriage to an aristocratic officer in 367 AD, her journey unleashes jealousy, passion and epic war. Valeria's new husband, Marcus, has supplanted the brutally efficient veteran soldier Galba as commander of the famed Petriana cavalry. Yet Galba insists on escorting the bride–to–be on her journey to the Wall. Is he submitting to duty? Or plotting revenge? And what is the mysterious past of the handsome barbarian chieftain Arden Caratacus, who springs from ambush and who seems to know so much of hated Rome?As sharp as the edge of a spatha sword and as piercing as a Celtic arrow, Hadrian's Wall evokes a lost world of Roman ideals and barbaric romanticism.

    It tells the story of the virtuous Greeks Glaucus and Ione, their escape from Pompeii amid the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, and their eventual conversion to Christianity, against a background of Roman decadence and corrupt Eastern religion.

    But fate is about to intervene. When the king of the Picts, the savage people beyond Hadrian’s Wall, dies in mysterious circumstances, Castus is selected to command the bodyguard of a Roman envoy sent to negotiate with the barbarians.But the diplomatic mission ends in bloody tragedy. Castus and his men are soon fighting for their lives and the legionary discovers that nothing about his doomed mission was ever what it seemed.

    In the months that followed, ten thousand men--trained and hardened in three decades of war in Greece--would engage in pitched battles, witness untold horrors, and begin a desperate march across he desert, over raging rivers, and into the jaws of hell itself. By the time it was over, some would be alive, others dead, and one among them would emerge and the greatest hero of all...In a novel of high adventure and riveting historical drama, Michael Curtis Ford brings to life an amazing true story from Greek antiquity--Xenophon's march of the ten Thousand. A tale of war and peace, of loyalties and betrayals, and of a soldier's love for a mysterious and dangerous woman, The Ten Thousand captures the eternal spirit of courage--in the face of impossible odds.

    Her husband Brigius, a Briton who now serves Rome, is torn when the imperial prince Caracalla arrives in northern Britannia with his unit of vicious, dangerous Numidian cavalry, causing trouble and endangering the couple's once peaceful life. Heedless of the danger to both them and their world, the pair see only one way to ensure the continuation of peace in the north, and it carries a horrifying risk.From two acclaimed authors of Historical Fiction set in the world of Rome, The Bear and the Wolf is a tale for all ages sure to enthrall. Originally penned for the Alderney Literary Festival, this short story is available at this time only in eBook form.

    And, cut off from Rome by the barbarian invasion of Gaul, and needing every penny to pay the army, he soon finds it impossible. Preoccupied with status and finances, he barely notices that his wily father-in-law Gratianus, with the help of Felix's sadistic wife is engineering a coup - one which embroils Felix dangerously in politics. Forced to flee for his life, Felix finally understands that lax etiquette is the least of Britain's problems...

    To his only child, Julia, he brings an unlikely companion—Selene, the daughter of the conquered Egyptian queen and her lover.Under the watchful eye of Augustus’s wife, Livia, Selene struggles to accept her new home among her parents’ enemies. Bound together by kinship and spilled blood, these three women—Livia, Selene, and Julia—navigate the dangerous world of Rome’s ruling elite, their every move a political strategy, their most intimate decisions in the emperor’s hands.Always suppressing their own desires for the good of Rome, each must fulfill her role. For astute Livia, this means unwavering fidelity to her all-powerful husband; for sensual Julia, surrender to an arranged marriage and denial of her craving for love and the pleasures of the flesh; for orphaned Selene, choosing between loyalty to her family’s killers and her wish for revenge.Can they survive Rome’s deadly intrigues, or will they be swept away by the perilous currents of the world’s most powerful empire?

    The reader is swept into the whirlpool of pageantry, passion, splendor, chaos and earth-shattering upheaval that was ancient Rome. Here is the story of Marius, wealthy but lowborn, and Sulla, aristocratic but penniless and debauched -- extraordinary men of vision whose ruthless ambition will lay the foundations of the most awesome and enduring empire known to humankind.A towering saga of great events and mortal frailties, it is peopled with a vast, and vivid cast of unforgettable men and women -- soldiers and senators, mistresses and wives, kings and commoners -- combined in a richly embroidered human tapestry to bring a remarkable era to bold and breathtaking life.