L.A. Trippin’

Above the original cover as it was published in the UK

What a terrific novel! I just finished it. You absolutely have to read this!

It’s out in the UK and in Canada, published by Preface and it will be out in the US next year (St. Martin’s Press) You can order it now if you want (you need to, if you ask me) from amazon.co.uk. The binding is much better than the usual UK stick and glue HC so you will still be able to open it without breaking it apart in three years time.

This truly is historical fiction of the highest order. Think Steven Pressfield’s writing and add Bernard Cornwell’s pace and action.

The characters are very well drawn. No long descriptions but right in your face from line one on.

Here’s the text from the front flap:
Against overwhelming odds, the tattered remnants of a once-huge Roman army fight for their lives at the very edge of the known world. Among them are these three men whose friendship has been forged in the bloody crucible of a hopeless war and the bitter knowledge that they are bound forever in servitude to the Republic.

Tarquinius is an Etruscan, a warrior and soothsayer, born enemy of Rome, but doomed to fight for the Republic in the Forgotten Legion

Brennus is a Gaul; the Romans klled his entire family. He rises to become one of the most famous and feared gladiators of his day - and mentor to the boy-slave, Romulus, who dreams night and day of escape and revenge.

Romulus and Fabiola are twins, born in to slavery after their mother is raped by a drunken nobleman. At thirteen years old they are sold: Romulus to Gladiator School, Fabiola into prostitution, where she will catch the eye of one of the most powerful men in Rome.

The lives of these four characters are bound and interwoven in this marvelous story, which begins in a Rome riven by corruption, violence and political enmities, but ends far away, at the very corner of the known world, where Romulus, Brennus and Tarquinius find themselves fighting against the Parthians and impossible odds.

I’m also busy writing a Roman story, very different in style from L.A. Trippin’

As I read this I was so glad to see great adventure novels are still being published. Just get it and dive into the adventure.

Have a great week

André