The plot of this book also weaves in the growing appeal of Christianity in the Roman Empire, with the characters who adhere to its tenets explaining just what it is about the religion that attracts them. But I love the medical information, and the author also shows us how the class and gender disparities of the time played out, which is always interesting. ‘All these things are true.’”Įvaluation: I am greatly enjoying this series, even though many of the characters and events described are most unsavory. She is the bravest and most beautiful woman I know, and I don’t deserve her.” “You asked me once if I was ashamed of you.” Ruso realizes too that he hadn’t done right by Tilla by not smoothing her way with his family: In any event, when they arrive, they once again get involved in a murder case, and once again, Ruso, with a lot of help from Tilla, finally figures out what happened, saving his own skin by doing so.ĭiscussion: Ruso continues to bumble through regular and extracurricular responsibilities, trying to do the right thing and right wrongs while everyone else is trying to take advantage of him. Moreover, to call Ruso’s family “dysfunctional” is an understatement. She knew that he sent most of his money home to his brother, and she knew that it was never enough.” “As far as she had been able to work out, the medicus’s family lived in a fine house whose roof baked beneath the everlasting sunshine of southern Gaul, while its foundations stood in a deep and perilous pool of debt. As Tilla mused in the previous book, Terra Incognita: Analogously in this book, Ruso has been remembering his home through rosy glasses a vision dispelled almost as soon as he got there. When Ruso went to see Tilla’s home in the previous installment, Tilla found her memories didn’t quite live up to the new reality there. He knew he should have found a way to mention Tilla to his family before now, but he had not, and now she was “about to become a surprise.” Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire (The Medicus Series, 2) by Downie, Ruth and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available. Ruso has been living with Tilla, a “Barbarian” from Britannia, for the past two years. He had the option to sign on again when he got back from Gaul, and Valens assured Ruso he would want to. (It was now June, and his contract with the Legion would be up in January. (Ancient Gaul included the area that is modern France.) He was granted a medical discharge. Come home, brother.” Since Ruso can’t do anything else for six weeks, he agreed, even though his home in the south of Gaul was over a thousand miles away from his current post in Deva. Since the author also highlights the food they eat, it seems inevitable, even without murder, that they would need a lot of fixing up.) Valens also delivered a letter to him marked urgent, that read “Lucius to Gaius. His friend and colleague Valens prescribed that he must go easy on it for a good six weeks, “and no wine, of course.” (Part of the fun of this series is learning about the various “cures” used by people in Ancient Rome. This book begins with hapless do-gooder Roman Army medic Gaius Petreius Ruso breaking his foot while trying to save a child who had been dropped into the river by five drunk legionaries. Sub-genresīooks by Ruth Downie Medicus Terra Incognita Persona non Grata Caveat Emptor Semper Fidelis Tabula Rasa Vita Brevis Memento Mori Prima Facie – A Crime Novella of the Roman Empireīecome part of a thriving community of successful crime writers with invaluable support, expertise and marketing opportunities for all our members.This is the third installment of an entertaining historical crime fiction series set in the Ancient Roman Empire. Ruth tries to spend as long as possible every summer wielding an archaeological trowel in search of inspiration. The eighth, Memento Mori, was published in 2018, and a novella, Prima Facie, followed in 2019. The first book in her crime series featuring Roman Army medic Ruso and his British partner Tilla was a New York Times bestseller, and The Times recommended it as one of their ‘Seven best thrillers for Christmas’. Finally escaping into fiction, she won the Fay Weldon section of the BBC’s End of Story competition in 2004. As a backup she learned typing and shorthand, in the mistaken belief that people would always need secretaries and that she might be quite good at it.
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