An Old Magic
On a day in the early summer of AD 60, a vast Iceni war horde is making its way South through the forests of Britain towards the Roman cities of Colchester and London, intent on slaughter and destruction. They are confident of an overwhelming victory.
In their path lies the villa of a retired soldier, Marcellus Honoratus, and his wife Claudia.
In their path also is an insignificant little Celtic girl, a slave to Claudia, and it is a deadly encounter in these woods with an Iceni war lord which is to turn the course of history.
Ripples from this ancient tragedy reach out to the present day and to Anna Claydon. Anna is a young designer working against time to survey and record a fine Medieval house, built over the remains of an undiscovered villa, before the site disappears under a motorway.
By an original means she finds that she has opened a window to a turbulent past and through it she glimpses a flickering world determined to reveal itself to her. She is being used by Roman Claudia who recognises Anna as her slave – a slave who failed to carry out her last instruction.
Romance, rescue archaeology, buried treasure, ancient curses and a dash of the supernatural with an original twist are the elements that make up this fast-paced and thought-provoking thriller.
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Barbara Cleverly
Barbara Cleverly was born in the north of England and is a graduate of Durham University. A former teacher, she has spent her working life in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk; she now lives in Cambridge. She has one son and five step-children. She is the author of the Joe Sandilands series, including The Last Kashmiri Rose, Folly du Jour and Strange Images of Death. Her Joe Sandilands series, set against the background of the Indian Empire, was inspired by the contents of a battered old tin trunk that she found in her attic.
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