Author:Ben Kane,Michael Praed
Romulus and Fabiola are twins, born into slavery after their mother is raped by a drunken nobleman on his way home from a good night out. At 13 years old, they and their mother are sold: Romulus to gladiator school, Fabiola into prostitution, where she will catch the eye of one of the most powerful men in Rome, and their mother into obscurity and death in the salt mines.
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 killed 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 of revenge.
The lives of these four characters are bound and interwoven in a marvellous story which begins in a Rome riven by corruption, violence and political enmities, but ends far away, where Romulus, Brennus and Tarquinius find themselves fighting against the Parthians and overwhelming odds.
Clive Cussler is hard to beat
—— Daily MailDelivers what it promises
—— Financial TimesThe guy I read
—— Tom ClancyIt is Ondaatje's extraordinary achievement to use magic in order to make the blood of his own country real... Nowhere has he written more beautifully
—— New York Times Book ReviewA truly wondrous book... I was as enthralled as I have not been since The English Patient
—— Ariel Dorfman, author of Death and the MaidenThis work of 'fiction' will endure as a hitory of these times showing us how we may face even the most extreme actions of our civilisation through wise, compassionate re-creation
—— The Sunday Times, Sri lankaAn important book for our times, in which one woman's determination and refusal to consent set an example of courage and honesty.
—— Giles FodenThe Watch is a powerful tale, courageous both in concept and creation: an ancient tale made modern, passed through different narrators in extraordinary shape-shifting prose that makes this not just an important novel, but a remarkable read.
—— Aminatta FornaA poignant and important book about one of the defining events of the start of the 21st century; it is devastatingly eloquent and unequivocal about the fact that there is no glory or beauty in war.
—— Fatima BhuttoA tense, edgy, gripping, important work.
—— Neel MuckherjeeJoydeep Roy-Bhattacharya is my hero among my fellow writers. In a world in which an 'identity kit' is something like a toothbrush - that is, something one cannot do without - he has chosen the most difficult way. He has jettisoned his 'identity kit' in the name of freedom of literary choice, in the name of the freedom of literature.
—— Dubravka UgresicJoydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's lyrical and poignant evocation of war is a potent reminder of the murderous futility of our imperial adventures in the Middle East. He captures the raw brutality of industrial warfare, along with its trauma, senselessness, random death and stupidity. His characters, including the soldiers who prosecute the war and the innocents whose lives are maimed and destroyed by it, are consumed alike in the vast orgy of death that sweeps across war zones to extinguish all that is human -- tenderness, compassion,understanding and finally love. He forces us to face the evil we do to others and to ourselves.
—— Chris Hedges, author of NY Times Bestseller War Is a Force That Gives Us MeaningOurs is a time of enduring conflict ... As a soldier and veteran, I want my countrymen and women to understand what they continue to ask their military to endure ... As a person, I want us to remember our common humanity. The Watch confronts all of these without apology ... I applaud it.
—— Captain Richard Sullivan, U.S. ArmyA captivating read
—— Sunday Business PostOriginally published in 1971, apparently, Reunion passed me by then but reading it now it certainly packs a punch
—— Guy Pringle , NudgeA little masterpiece
—— Val Hennessy , Daily MailI loved the mood of the book — it’s nostalgic and wistful without being sentimental — and it’s written in a perfectly matter-of-fact way but is done so eloquently the sentences feel as if they’ve been spun from silk. It’s a quick read, too, but it’s the kind of story that stays with you
—— Reading MattersDevastating
—— Fiona Wilson , The TimesNever hits a false note
—— i (The paper for today)It’s a good novel, a short novel, quickly and easily read, but it’s a novel that demonstrates Uhlman’s great skill because when you arrive at the last sentence (the very last sentence of the novel), you see you’ve actually missed a different arc entirely. It is this twist in the tail that has you both retreating back through the book but also (curse them) recommending it to others as well
—— Book MunchExtraordinary…one of literature’s most shattering final sentences
—— New York TimesUhlman writes with a painter’s eye for the significant detail, and with the precision of someone who has learned a second language in adulthood. Every word is exactly what it must, and could only, be. Every sentence is characterized by delicacy, concision, and finesse
—— Church TimesShimmers above so much of the new fiction… Brings a lump to the throat in its final line
—— Arifa Akbar , IndependentA daring miracle of narrative simplicity, its end comes at you like a torch in a long tunnel.
—— Rachel Cooke , ObserverAs perfect as it is powerful
—— Irish TimesReunion resembles that other small masterpiece, Death in Venice, by Uhlman’s compatriot Thomas Mann. Its setting may be drastically different but, in a classic, what prevails is strength of spirit over the will to power.
—— Amanda Hopkinson , Jewish Chronicle[A] touching novel.
—— David Nicholls , Observer, Book of the YearA beautiful story
—— Jeffrey Archer , Daily Express