Opening the email from cover designer Jessica Bell is exciting. But the moment I click to open the image file itself brings feelings of joy, fear, anticipation and hope. When it opens on the screen, I am enveloped in wonder and admiration. There’s the heroine. There’s her determination, her own fear, her courage.
Here is JULIA PRIMA, the first Julia destined to become one of the two founders of the dynasty which will rule Roma Nova for sixteen centuries.
Not that she has any idea about that…
AD 370, Roman frontier province of Noricum. Neither wholly married nor wholly divorced, Julia Bacausa is trapped in the power struggle between the Christian church and her pagan ruler father.
Tribune Lucius Apulius’s career is blighted by his determination to stay faithful to the Roman gods in a Christian empire. Stripped of his command in Britannia, he’s demoted to the backwater of Noricum – and encounters Julia.
Unwittingly, he takes her for a whore. When confronted by who she is, he is overcome with remorse and fear. Despite this disaster, Julia and Lucius are drawn to one another by an irresistible attraction.
But their intensifying bond is broken when Lucius is banished to Rome. Distraught, Julia gambles everything to join him. But a vengeful presence from the past overshadows her perilous journey. Following her heart’s desire brings danger she could never have envisaged…
Readers have repeatedly asked me for this story, so I’ve written it.
JULIA PRIMA will be out in August – perfect timing for summer reading!
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. Double Pursuit, the sequel, is now out!
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