Wednesday, June 8, 2011

HT Recommends: Books set in Roman Britain


Reader Stephanie emailed us with the following request:

I am an avid historical fiction reader and am currently interested in the Roman Britain period.  I've read Ruth Downie's Medicus series and Rosemary Rowe's Libertus series.  I've also read  Jack Whyte's The Camulod Chronicles.  Can you recommend any others?



We have read several Roman HF books and the ones that fit the request are:

The Silver Pigs - Lindsey Davis (partially set in Britain)

Dreaming The Hound - Manda Scott
Dreaming The Bull - Manda Scott
Dreaming The Eagle - Manda Scott

The Dawn Stag - Jules Watson
The White Mare - Jules Watson

Does anyone have other good titles to recommend?

8 comments:

  1. Rosemary Sutcliff has scads of books set in Roman Britain. My favorite is The Mark of the Horse Lord.

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  2. I'm currently reading The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley, which is a present day archaeological mystery about Roman Scotland, and so far it's really good. There's also:
    The Mistletoe and the Sword by Anya Seton
    Almost anything by Juliet Marillier (can't recommend her highly enough, although most of her stories are set in Ireland, and are little post-Roman.)
    Gillian Bradshaw has some Roman British stuff
    Maybe Barbara Erskine?
    You might want to try just going on Goodreads and typing in "Roman Britain" to see what comes up. Happy reading!

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  3. Rosemary Sutcliff has written a number of gorgeous books set in Roman Britain. Although marketed for children, I have enjoyed them. My favorites are Eagle of the Ninth, Dawn Wind, Th Lantern Bearers, and Song for a Dark Queen. Definitely worth reading.

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  4. I remember reading a book once called Keeper of Crystal Spring once, or something along those lines. I could be wrong, but I believe I remember it taking place in Roman Britain.

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  5. M.K Hume's Dragons Child King Arthur series.It's set just after the romans left Britain!

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  6. Gillian Bradshaw's Island of Ghosts.

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  7. Two more of Lindsey Davis's Falco books are set mostly or entirely in Britain: A Body in the Bath House takes place during the construction of the palace at Fishburne, and The Jupiter Myth is set in Londinium immediately afterwards.

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  8. Pauline Gedge's Eagle and the Raven - a classic recently reprinted.

    "Keeper of the Crystal Spring" btw, is set later , just after the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066.

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