Customer Reviews

The Slave-Girl from Jerusalem (The Roman Mysteries)

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If you haven't yet discovered Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries, you are missing one of the best series available in the world of children's historical fiction. We've been fans since the very first book and so are delighted to see that Amazon has finally made arrangements to drag these across the pond rather than wait for a year or more for US publication, something our young Latinists have found very frustrating.

Slave Girl from Jerusalem (Roman Mysteries) brings together the workings of the Roman legal system and the destruction of Jerusalem's Second Temple in a tight little mystery with lots of accurate historical context.

Those studying Ancient Rome or Latin should also note that all of the Roman Mysteries contain an extensive vocabulary list in the back as well as an end note regarding the history behind the book.

Kudos to Caroline! Now, when are we going to see the TV series over here?

I don't know how she does it, but with a couple of exceptions, each book in Caroline Lawrence's "The Roman Mysteries" series is better than the one before. Furthermore, this is the first time one of the books has reduced me to tears. I had gotten a little emotional in The Dolphins of Laurentum and The Gladiators from Capua, but for the conclusion of "Slave Girl" it was a full-out sob-fest.

Jonathan is having haunting dreams about a funeral procession, one that he can't help but feel is his own. Afraid that it's a premonition, he goes out hunting early one morning, only to come across a funeral pyre on the beach. A rich nobleman called Dives has died, much to the mutual sorrow and joy of his slaves, who have lost a good master but gained a fair inheritance. On returning home he finds that his heavily pregnant sister Miriam has a mystery for him and his friends to solve.

Her friend Hiphzibah (the titular slave girl of the title) has a problem. Her master was Dives, and she insists that prior to his death he made her a free woman. Unfortunately, this was done in secret and Hiphzibah has no evidence to present to Dives's successor that she is not his property - all she has is the name and appearance of the man who witnessed her manumission. The four friends: Flavia the captain's daughter, Nubia the ex-slave, and Lupus the one-time beggar boy agree to help Jonathan investigate, but a shock is awaiting them once they track down the man in question. He is discovered stabbed to death in his apartment, able to impart only a few mysterious words to Nubia before he dies.

One catastrophe follows another. On discovering that Flavia's emancipation of Nubia is not recognized by Roman law, she must go into hiding considering that all slaves must be tortured before questioned if implicated in a murder. Another man is found murdered on Dive's estate, and Hiphzibah is accused of the crime considering that the body was found in her sleeping quarters. And when the case is brought to trial, the respectability of the children is called into question, with no help gained from the man that Flavia has called in to defend Hiphzibah.

"The Slave-Girl from Jerusalem" may well be one of Lawrence's more sophisticated mysteries, drawing on past books in the series, the historical siege of Masada by Roman forces in 73 AD, and small anecdotes from various characters that are not given their full significance until later in the book. It is an ingenious melding of history and innovation, in which Lawrence draws inspiration from the fact that seven people survived Masada (this is recounted by the Jewish historian Josephus, a man who has appeared in previous books), taking advantage of the fact that their names and fates remain unknown, to postulate that one of them is Hiphzibah. Her past is intricately wound up with those of several other participants in the mystery, forming a skillfully plotted whole.

The story culminates in a 1st century courtroom drama, Lawrence having already given the reader a rudimentary understanding of how Roman law and order worked. Though our own justice system is based on what the Romans first utilized, young readers will be indignant to find that the proceedings involve slander, bribed witnesses, insults, and spectators who are paid off to boo or applaud the appropriate side. Also present are the historical figures of Pliny the Younger, the poet Flaccus (both of whom have appeared in the series before) and Quintilian the famous teacher of rhetoric, all of whom have an important part to play in the plot.

As our protagonists grow, the mysteries that they find themselves embroiled in grow darker and more complex. For the first time, the four friends are dealing with actual murder, and not thievery, kidnapping or attempted assassination, and the consequences if they fail is nothing less than the crucifixion of an innocent woman. Though death has always been a part of this series, it is not until this installment that a character very close to the protagonists is killed off in heartrending circumstances.

This series has always contained a subtle Christian message concerning the importance of forgiveness and enlightenment, something that I've never mentioned in any of my previous review considering that it was so understated. But here for the first time, the tone of the book takes on a rather transcendent air and one gets the sense that a greater power is at work in the foursome's lives, sowing the seeds of destiny for the four books that follow.

In The Slave-Girl from Jerusalem we meet Hephzibah, the title character, who is a close friend of Miriam and in need of some help. She was a slave in the household of a very wealthy man named Dives but claims that he master freed her in a private ceremony. The estate has been inherited by a man named Nonius who claims Hephzibah as his slave. A witness to the manumission ceremony is found but before he can testify before a magistrate the witness is found murdered.

For the time being, Hephzibah is staying with Pliny the Younger but she is suddenly summoned by Nonius to clear out her possessions. When Hephzibah goes to her cubicle she discovers the body of a murdered man and is accused of being the murderer. It is now up to Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus to prove that Hephzibah is innocent.

Caroline Lawrence has woven a superb mystery that includes a wealth of information about the Roman legal system and how and why cases were presented. The advocate that Flavia asks to argue Hephzibah's case is Flaccus who is a bit unsure of himself, particularly as he needs to face the great orator Quintilian. There is a helpful diagram of an orator and the gestures that were used when making a presentation.

Jonathan has a re-occurring dream of a funeral procession which he believes to be his own. From this the characters become somewhat obsessed with the making of wills, and so there is a lot of information on who could inherit an estate and under what circumstances children and slaves could be included in a will. The Slave-Girl from Jerusalem is a magnificent addition to the Roman Mysteries series.