Author:Geraint Jones
'Brutal, audacious, and fast-paced' - Anthony Riches, author of bestselling Empire series
'Every page is drenched with the soldier's experience' - Giles Kristian
Former soldier Geraint Jones delivers a visceral historical fiction epic that captures the essence of the men fighting for the blood-stained legions on the fringes of the Roman Empire.
In the wake of a brutal massacre, the battle-hardened legionary Felix is taken as a slave to a traitorous Roman's German army: a force hellbent on tearing apart the Empire.
As legion after legion falls, it's up to Felix and his shackled comrades to escape captivity and starvation, and to lead the defence of a lone fort against an insurgent force that has destroyed all in its path. because if their last stand fails then Rome itself could be next...
A blood-soaked page-turner
—— Mail on SundayHistorical fiction written by a real war veteran who knows all there is to know about blood and bonding in battle. An earthy and powerful read.
—— Weekend SportGives Rome's legionaries a contemporary voice - this is brutal, audacious and fast paced writing
—— Anthony Riches, author of Empire seriesGeraint Jones takes no prisoners in this visceral tale of Roman soldiers harried to their physical and mental limits by an implacable enemy. Siege is a story of comradeship, sacrifice and endurance in an outpost drained of hope. Only the toughest will survive
—— Doug JacksonEvery page is drenched with the soldier's experience: What it means to be loyal to the state and to friends, the unspeakable horrors of war and the instinct to survive, and the twisted bonds between brothers in arms
—— Giles KristianI devoured Red Sky at Noon. A heartstopping, heartbreaking, technicolour epic. A grand homage to the Russian masters Babel & Grossman, echoes of Hemingway & Dostoevsky, and a propulsive delight that is entirely Montefiore's own. Gripping storytelling allied with intimate, unsqueamish knowledge of Russian history - a special combination.
—— AD Miller, author of SnowdropsThis gripping instalment of the Moscow Trilogy tells of a man wrongly imprisoned in the Gulags and his fight for redemption. Meticulously researched ... In this searing tale of love and war, most moving is the redemptive relationship between a soldier and a nurse that blooms amid the brutality. An homage to the author's favourite Russian writers and the Western masterpieces of Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy and Elmore Leonard, such influences pervade this atmospheric tale told in the author's distinct own voice.
—— ObserverA GRIPPING tale ... Montefiore is BRILLIANT at depicting the BROODING MENACE ... the [penal battalions] are given increasingly risky missions, it is Benya's journey on horseback that we follow behind enemy lines in the grasslands of southern Russia ... An EPIC tale ... The language is arresting ... It's beautifully done: a WESTERN ON THE EASTERN FRONT.
—— Daily TelegraphDISPATCHES FROM THE DAYS OF BLOOD AND THUNDER ... There are atrocities on all sides and a smidgen of love as Benya falls for a brave Italian nurse. A subplot follows the ill-starred affair between Stalin's daughter and a Jewish writer. But Benya's struggle to keep his humanity is the memorable spine of the book.
—— Best of Summer reading, The TimesExhilarated and terrified ... Golden is plunged into a world where violent death could arrive at any moment and any pleasures that present themselves (an unexpected affair with an Italian nurse, for example) must be seized immediately. Sebag Montefiore PAINTS HIS VERBAL PICTURES of the WAR IN BOLD PRIMARY COLOURS ... SHEER ENERGY OF STORYTELLING AND GRAND SWEEP OF NARRATIVE.
—— Sunday TimesIT'S LONESOME DOVE MEETS STALINGRAD. A band of outlaws riding & fighting for their lives on sweeping plains - but these bandits are not battling tribes in the Wild West, they are on the grasslands of south Russia at war with Nazi Germany and its ally, the Italians. Our hero is not a Texas Ranger but a Jewish writer named Benya Golden. Montefiore has brought his understand of Russian history to life here with great gusto traversing Gulags, battlefields and Kremlin but Golden is a lover not a fighter...
—— Leila McKinnon , Womens Weekly AustraliaTolstoyan
—— The Jewish ChronicleSimon Sebag Montefiore’s skill with imagery is such that he immerses his reader in an utterly ethereal landscape … Montefiore can effortlessly meld beauty and battle
—— TLSFor the sheer pleasure of being swept away in an epic tale of love and war by a master storyteller, Red Sky At Noon by Simon Sebag Montefiore had me enthralled from beginning to end. This is the final part of his Moscow trilogy – a series of compelling historical novels in the great tradition of Scott, Thackeray and Tolstoy.
—— Billy Kay , Book of the Year, Sunday Herald (Scotland)