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West of Santillane
Desperate to escape a mundane future as a Virginia planter’s wife, Julia Hancock seizes her chance for adventure when she wins the heart of American hero William Clark. Though her husband is the famed explorer, Julia embarks on her own thrilling and perilous journey of self-discovery.
With her gaze ever westward, Julia possesses a hunger for knowledge and a passion for helping others. She falls in love with Will’s strength and generous manner, but, like her parents, he is a slave owner, and Julia harbors strong opinions against slavery. Still, her love for Will wins out, though he remains unaware of her beliefs.
Julia finds St. Louis to be a rough town with few of the luxuries to which she is accustomed, harboring scandalous politicians and miscreants of all types. As her husband and his best friend, Meriwether Lewis, work to establish an American government and plan to publish their highly anticipated memoirs, Julia struggles to assume the roles of both wife and mother. She is also drawn into the plight of an Indian family desperate to return to their own lands and becomes an advocate for Will’s enslaved.
When political rivals cause trouble, Julia’s clandestine aid to the Indians and enslaved of St. Louis draws unwanted attention, placing her at odds with her husband. Danger cloaks itself in far too many ways, leading her to embrace the courage to save herself and others through a challenge of forgiveness that will either restore the love she shares with Will or end it forever.
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ANTONIUS: Son of Rome
After young Marcus Antonius’s father dies in disgrace, he yearns to restore his family’s honor during the final days of Rome’s dying Republic. Marcus is rugged, handsome, and owns abundant military talent, but upon entering manhood, he falls prey to the excesses of a violent society. His whoring, gambling, and drinking eventually reap dire consequences.
After a series of personal tragedies, Marcus must come into his own through blood, blades, and death. Once he finally earns a military commission, he faces an uphill battle to earn the respect and admiration of soldiers, proconsuls, and kings. Desperate to redeem his name and carve a legacy for himself, he refuses to let warring rebels, scheming politicians, or even an alluring young Egyptian princess stand in his way.
ANTONIUS: Second in Command
Having proven himself as a formidable cavalry commander, Marcus Antonius finally earns a position at his kinsman Julius Caesar’s side. However, Caesar is an exacting general, demanding complete allegiance from his staff, even when his decisions put him at odds with the Senate. Marcus’s loyalty to Caesar comes at a cost, and he soon finds himself embroiled in mob violence and military mutinies. As civil war brings Rome’s Republic crashing down, many a relationship is torn asunder, including Marcus’s marriage. Determined to rise triumphant in Rome’s new era, Marcus faces his fears, his failures, and his enemies—not the least of whom is himself.
Amid the crisis of the Ides of March, Marcus must don the mantle of ruthlessness to carve his own legacy in Rome’s history. Enemies have been made, wills have been read, and heirs proclaimed.
But in Rome’s civil unrest, blood answers only to blood.
ANTONIUS: Soldier of Fate
Marcus Antonius has it all—power, prestige, a heroic military reputation, and the love of Queen Cleopatra. But as master of Rome’s Eastern provinces and kingdoms, he must maintain peace, and in so doing, he sacrifices his own happiness, yoked within a loveless marriage and an eroding alliance. As Octavian’s star rises, Marcus must compete with his rival’s success, though it leads to an embittered struggle threatening to end their unity.
Once Marcus finally takes matters into his own hands, his fate becomes tied to the East—and Cleopatra. Far from Rome and his seat of power, a horrific campaign to fulfill Julius Caesar’s vision will forever alter him. He is a man torn between two countries and two families, and ultimately—a soldier fated to be the catalyst transforming Rome from Republic to Empire.
2020 AWARD RECIPIENT of the INTERNATIONAL READERS FAVORITE BOOK REVIEWERS AWARDS for HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHICAL FICTION
"AN OBJECTIVE AND MICROSCOPIC LOOK AT THE EARLY LIFE OF ROME'S ICONIC SYMBOL OF LOVE AND POWER."
~ Reader's Favorite Book Review
BOOK READERS APPRECIATION GROUP AWARD for HISTORICAL FICTION
for Antonius: Son of Rome & Antonius: Second in Command
"IF YOU READ ONLY ONE HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK THIS YEAR, THEN... LET THIS BE THE ONE!"
~ The Coffee Pot Book Club
1st PLACE WINNER in the Chanticleer International Book Awards Chaucer Award Division!!!
"Marc Antony is the proverbial late bloomer, in that he doesn’t enter the portals of popular history until he is in his forties, much- married, and takes up with Cleopatra. From then on “Antony and Cleopatra” become the most famous couple in history. But what of Antony himself? Who is he?
The long personal journey to find himself is enthralling in its own right. Marcus Antonius started out behind the eight ball, due to family missteps, political enemies—not the least of them the formidable and venomous Cicero---and his own personal demons. In this first part of a planned trilogy, Brook Allen shines light on those early years of Marcus, as he becomes a soldier who commands respect, not least from his kinsman, Julius Caesar.
The novel covers all aspects of his life---his immediate family, his failings, disappointments, and the triumph of being given the opportunity to show his military genius in the Near East under general Gabinius, proconsul of Syria. At the same time---and history bears this out---he was from the beginning a kind and generous person, slow to anger but impulsive in his decisions, although those were destructive to himself rather than anyone else, as cruelty was not in his nature---a rare trait in his environment.
Allen deftly paints a vivid picture of Republican Rome (not the paradise later proponents worshiped), of its snake pit politics, of daily life in Roman households, and of the treacheries and shifting alliances in the eastern provinces.
I am eager to read the story as it continues, for the life of Marcus Antonius is one of the most fascinating in history, on both the personal and public levels. And there is much more to come!"