A former bonded servant risks his life and fortune to fight tyranny and injustice in early Rome.
“The blood of the bulls on Jupiter’s hill gave them liberty—the words graven unto these Twelve Tables made them equal.”
ROME, 462 BC. To save his family’s failing farm, sixteen-year-old Marcus Atilius is sold into debt servitude by his own father. Plunged into the city’s underbelly, Marcus must endure a world of cutthroat trading stalls and gritty warehouses—all while navigating a forbidden entanglement with a woman far above his station. Survival demands sharp guile and moral compromise.
As a bitter class struggle pushes Rome to the brink of civil war, Marcus vows to beat the elites at their own ruthless game to win his freedom and a fortune worthy of the woman he loves.
Yet his rise brings a fateful choice. A historic demand sweeps the city for the Twelve Tables—a revolutionary legal code to protect plebeians from patrician tyranny. With a corrupt aristocrat holding the tether to his trading empire, will Marcus protect his hard-won power, or risk everything for the soul of Rome?
Perfect for fans of: Conn Iggulden, Steven Saylor, and Ben Kane.
Themes:
- Early Roman Republic
- Underdog triumph
- Political intrigue
- Legal drama
- Forbidden romance
