A fusion of Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire and the movie Braveheart; a novel of ancient warfare, lethal politics, and the final great clash of Roman and Celtic culture.
For three centuries, the stone barrier we know as Hadrian's Wall shielded Roman Britain from the unconquered barbarians of the island's northern highlands. 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.
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I'm a novelist and non-fiction author, with a series on American adventurer Ethan Gage in the Napoleonic era that has sold into 31 languages. My newest novel, a Nazi thriller, is "Blood of the Reich."
I began my writing career as a newspaper reporter in 1973, published my first non-fiction book, "The Final Forest," in 1992, and my first fiction, "Ice Reich," in 1998, completing a first draft on an Antarctic research ship. I share a Pulitzer for covering the Exxon Valdez oil spill while at the Seattle Times and then taught for five years at Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment. While there I authored "Green Fire: A History of Huxley College."
My work at HarperCollins has been historical fiction that ranges from the Roman Empire to my latest tale that ranges from Germany to Washington's Cascade Mountains to Tibet. My Ethan Gage series starts with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt ("Napoleon's Pyramids") and continues on to the Holy Land, America's Great Lakes frontier, the Barbary Pirates of North Africa and (coming) the Caribbean and Haiti. I've also done thrillers for Warner Books (Ice Reich, Getting Back, and Dark Winter, now available again as E-books on Amazon) and non-fiction about the Pacific Northwest.
My award-winning first non-fiction book, "The Final Forest," was just reissued by University of Washington Press. For any Twilight fans, it's a book about Forks, Washington, written well before the vampire craze: it gives you the real Forks.
Research for my novels has taken me to the Arctic, Antarctic, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Australia, Sicily, Greece, Paris, Britain, Hungary, Tibet...hey, someone's got to do it. I've traveled on a sailboat in the South Pacific, landed on an aircraft carrier, flown in a B-52, visited the South Pole, and been terrified flying with the Blue Angels.
As a journalist, I was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, won National Science Foundation fellowships to Antarctica, and speak frequently on environmental issues. I've covered Congress, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the environment, science, social issues - even the military. I've traveled frequently for my writing, but live in the Pacific Northwest where I was born. I'm married, with two grown children.
I live in a house looking out at the San Juan Islands, surrounded by fir, cedar, and hemlock, and sometimes get to watch bald eagles while I'm writing. Connecting with readers is one of life's biggest thrills.
I absolutely have to agree with the sentiments of the spotlight reviewer: this is a romance novel masquerading as a novel about the legions in Britain. I hate writing bad reviews, but I feel that there are a lot of readers like myself who will pick this book up hoping for one thing and finding something completely different and not to their tastes. I was so looking forward to reading this book too! Finding it in the bookstore last spring was a delightful surprise since good novels about Rome and her legions are rather sparse on the ground. The book itself turned out to be a disappointing let down for me since it is actually a romance novel set in Britain during the time of the Roman occupation. If you like novels about 17 year old girls acting childishly and selfishly, with rather immature ideas about love and romance, who luckily happen to find their dream mate in a handsome, highland king who panders to their sense of how the world should work, well, then this is probably a great book. If you are seeking historical detail, gritty realism, character development, accuracy, believable and intelligent plotting, you'll probably be a whole lot happier with Colleen McCullough's Rome series. I read half of this novel before casting it aside. This one is misrepresented on the dust cover, so beware.
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I was fooled by the cover and endorsements on the jacket. I was expecting Roman Legions battling it out with barbarians. There is one great battle at the end, but this is really a romance novel set in 375 AD Britain. Tribune Galba Brassidius expects to be the new commander of the Petriana cavalry at the Hadrian Wall fort Petrianais, but he is supplanted by an inexperienced Praefectus, Marcus Flavius, from Rome. Marcus has obtained the post through a financial arrangement with a Roman senator. In exchange for money, Marcus gets the new posting and the hand of the senator's daughter, Valeria. This arrangement gives him the prestige of a senatorial connection, and a field command to further his career. An irate Galba has his own agenda. He has been dealing on both sides of Hadrian's Wall, and he enlists the aide of a Celtic Chieftain, Arden Caratacus, to kidnap Valeria. Galba hopes to incite war between the Celts and Romans and get Marius killed, take his wife, and in the process, become a hero. A naive Valeria loathes Galba's crude advances, is puzzled by her husband's indifference, ignores the worship of young tribune Clodius, and struggles with her growing feelings for the young Celt, Arden. Valeria also ignores the advice of her wise slave Savia. Much of the story is related in the aftermath by Roman investigator Draco, who is trying to piece together the cause of the catastrophe.
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This review is from: Hadrian's Wall: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
I wish I could have enjoyed this book more. Dietrich treats the era well, and the idea of the Wall is relevant to our times, reminding one of the Berlin Wall and of the current American debate over the Fence on the Mexican Border.
As a Texan, and as a fan of Historical Fiction, I expected more about a collision of peoples and ideas and less of a romance novel.
Nevertheless, all characters were treated fairly and the plot was well developed. I will read more of Dietrich's work, but I do hope he gives up as a romance writer.
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