Farewell Britannia: A Family Saga of Roman Britain [Paperback]

Simon Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 2008

Brilliant young historian Simon Young has invented a multigenerational family—part Roman, part Celtic—to tell the dramatic story of 400 years of Roman rule in Britain.  The narrator writes this "family history" in 430 AD, realizing the Romans will never return. He chooses 14 of the most interesting, but not always the most admirable, of his ancestors. The big events of Roman Britain are all here: scouting for Caesar's expedition in 55 BC; the Roman invasion in 43 AD; Boudicca's revolt and the massacre of 70,000 Romans; the Pict attacks on Hadrian's Wall; the great Barbarian Conspiracy of 367; and the sudden cataclysmic departure of the legions in 410. But there are plenty of nonmilitary episodes: spying on the Druids; a centurion dreaming of retirement with a young slave he has bought; an ambitious wife on the northern frontier; a bad poet in Londinium; infanticide in Surrey; a young Christian girl facing martyrdom in a British amphitheatre. Vivid historical detail is balanced by a real feel for the psychological depth of the individual stories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"the greatest acheivement of this magnificent work is its success in breathing life into real people" THE HERALD

About the Author

Simon Young is a journalist and historian.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (April 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753823705
• ISBN-13: 978-0753823705
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Approach to the History of Roman Britain, May 8, 2011

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William Holmes "semloh2287" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Farewell Britannia: A Family Saga of Roman Britain (Hardcover)

In "Farewell Britania," Simon Young explores the rise and fall of Roman Britain through a series of short stories, told in 430 AD by one of the last survivors of a noble Roman family. Each story is based to one degree or another on known events, real persons, or archaeological discoveries, and at the end of each chapter Young carefully explains where his tale is based in fact and where he takes poetic license. Many of the tales are gripping or poignant or both, and Young does a fine job of making the reader feel, just a little, what it might have been like to live through these turbulent times. The notes at the end of the book, about reading and writing Roman Britain, are worth a look for their own sake.

"Farewell Britannia" is something of a prequel to Young's 2005 book A.D. 500: A Journey Through the Dark Isles of Britain and Ireland, which recounts the adventures of an embassy dispatched to Britain in the early 6th Century by the Byzantine Emperor. "A.D. 500" struck me as more of an adventure story than "Farewell Britannia,", although it too is well grounded in known events, customs, and archaeology; "Farewell Britannia," given its parallel them of the declining fortunes of a family and a country, is more moving. Both books are well worth reading and savoring.