Indira Varma

Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people, epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess. After eight years of war, soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome.

England is on the brink of a devastating war with France that will last over a hundred years. A terrible plague which will wipe out a third of Europe's population before it is done, is spreading. Caris, a visionary young woman, struggles to rise above the suffering and oppression in order to lead her people out of the Dark Ages. With her lover Merthin, she builds a community in Kingsbridge that stands up to the church and the crown.