Rivals of the Republic

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Description

The body of a Vestal Virgin is dragged out of the River Tiber. A senator bleeds to death in his bath.
As the authorities turn a blind eye, Hortensia, daughter of the capital's most celebrated orator, feels compelled to investigate a trail of murders that lead to the dark heart of Rome.
Flying in the face of her husband's and father's attempts to protect her, rebelling against the constraints imposed upon her sex, she is drawn ever deeper into the corrupt underworld that lurks in the shadows cast by the city's all-powerful elite. When fires begin to rage in the slums and more key witnesses are silenced, only one man can save Hortensia from becoming the next victim of a conspiracy to destroy the Republic: Lucrio, the damaged ex-gladiator to whom she already owes her life. But will the secrets of his own tragic past threaten to subsume them both...

Reviews

'Freisenbruch deftly intertwines her plot with the politics of the late republic... and the layers of life, crime and grime in that most fascinating of cities... I look forward to Hortensias next adventures'The Times

'Stunning a riveting tale. Highly recommended!'Alison Weir, bestselling author of Katherine of Aragon

'Brilliant... an enthralling and convincing imagining of Ancient Rome'Harry Sidebottom, bestselling author of the Throne of the Caesars series

'Annelise Freisenbruch's Hortensia is a delight - passionate, articulate, fallible and, better still, inspired by a real woman'Ruth Downie, author of the bestselling Medicus series

'An exciting journey'Margaret George, bestselling author of The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Author Bio

Annelise Freisenbruch was born in Bermuda in 1977. She has a PhD in Classics from Newnham College, Cambridge, and is the author of The First Ladies of Rome the highly-acclaimed history of Rome's empresses. Rivals of the Republic is her first novel.