Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper
First line: The twisted branches flash past, swift as shadows, yet solid as spears.
Summary: Few women strike fear in the hearts of Rome like the Iceni queen, Boudicca. She challenged Rome’s takeover of Britannia with a revolt that destroyed several key towns across the southern lands. But the revolt was doomed to collapse and the mighty queen is conquered leaving her daughter a captive of the Roman general, Paulinus.
Solina, the daughter of Boudicca and a druid king, has spent her life in her mother’s shadow but is now forced to carve out her own path in a world she never imagined she would inhabit. As a prisoner she is taken to Nero’s Rome where she finds that survival in the capital can be just as dangerous as war. With her life now in Rome she must come to terms with her past, the enemy all around her and what it truly means to be Boudicca’s daughter.
My Thoughts: Ever since I heard that Elodie Harper was going to write a book about Boudicca I could not wait for its release! I even went out and bought a copy of the beautiful book so I can add it to my collection. And it did not disappoint. I loved everything about this book!
While this book is historical fiction much of Solina’s life is fiction including her name. Boudicca’s daughters and their violation by Roman soldiers were cited as important reasons behind the revolt. Little is actually known about what happened to them afterwards and the records are all from Roman historians giving them a very one sided point of view. But I think Harper did a fantastic job imagining what life may have been like for a high profile prisoner being taken to Rome during a turbulent time in its own history.
Told through several viewpoints including Boudicca, Solina and Paulinius we travel from the Iceni homeland, to fierce battles, then captivity and finally to Rome. Solina is portrayed as a woman who is constantly in conflict with herself on surviving and the urge to continue the resistance to Roman control. As I’m sure the author intended, I could feel this struggle throughout Solina’s journey. Added to this Harper shows how cutthroat life in Rome was at the time of Nero. No one was safe from incriminations and threats. I could feel the anxiety of it through the narrative while also finding it fascinating.
I would highly recommend this and Elodie Harper’s trilogy set in Pompeii. She writes fascinating characters who inhabited the ancient world. We are shown the darker sides of what this gilded society was like through the eyes of strong female characters.
FYI: Currently this book is only available through Libby/Overdrive.