26 Mar Book Review EXSILIUM Alison Morton #RomaNovaSeries #EXSILIUM #AlternativeHistoricalFiction #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @alison_morton @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: ALISON MORTON

I am delighted to host Alison Morton as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between March 18th – 29th, 2024. Alison Morton is the author of the Historical Fiction, EXSILIUM (Roma Nova Series), which was released by Pulcheria Presson on 27 February 2024 (364 pages).

Below are highlights of EXSILIUM, Alison Morton’s author bio, and my 5-star review of her book. 

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2024/02/blog-tour-exsilium-by-alison-morton.html

HIGHLIGHTS: EXSILIUM

EXSILIUM
(Roma Nova Series)
by Alison Morton

Blurb:

Exile – Living death to a Roman

AD 395. In a Christian Roman Empire, the penalty for holding true to the traditional gods is execution.

Maelia Mitela, her dead husband condemned as a pagan traitor, leaving her on the brink of ruin, grieves for her son lost to the Christians and is fearful of committing to another man.

Lucius Apulius, ex-military tribune, faithful to the old gods and fixed on his memories of his wife Julia’s homeland of Noricum, will risk everything to protect his children’s future.

Galla Apulia, loyal to her father and only too aware of not being the desired son, is desperate to escape Rome after the humiliation of betrayal by her feckless husband.

For all of them, the only way to survive is exile.

Buy Links:

Universal Amazon Link: https://mybook.to/EXSILIUM

All retailers (including Amazon) Universal Link: https://books2read.com/EXSILIUM

AUTHOR BIO: ALISON MORTON

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the 21^st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but use a sharp line in dialogue. The latest, EXSILIUM, plunges us back to the late 4^th century, to the very foundation of Roma Nova.

She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. 

Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit.

Author Links:

Connect with Alison on her World of Thrillers site     Facebook author page     X/Twitter    Alison’s writing blog

Instagram     Goodreads     Threads     Alison’s Amazon page     BlueSky     Newsletter sign-up

BOOK REVIEW: EXSILIUM

The Roman family saga of EXSILIUM by Alison Morton is the sequel to JULIA PRIMA, set in 370 AD. The Roman empire has begun to decay and Christian zealots are imposing their beliefs on others. The daughter of a powerful pagan ruler, Julia Bacausa gambles everything and travels from her homeland of Noricum to reunite and marry Lucius Apulius, a Roman commander stripped of his military rank because of his pagan beliefs.

At the start of EXSILIUM, Julia dies shortly after giving birth to her fourth daughter in 383 AD Rome. The epic tale follows the fates of the households of Lucius Apulius and his Roman comrade, Gaius Mitelus. To capture the breadth of how the rapidly changing political climate impacts the families’ lives, the story is told through the perspective of three narrators: Maelia Mitela (Gaius’s sister), Lucius Apulius, and Galla Apulia (Lucius’s oldest daughter). Maelia takes in Lucius’s daughters and helps care for them as Lucius grieves the death of his wife. Five years later, Maelia faces the possibility of losing her estate when her husband dies and is branded a traitor for fighting with the rebel emperor of Britannia, Magnus Maximus, against the Christian general Theodosius. At the risk of losing her estate, Maelia calls on the aid of Lucius and a prestigious lawyer to fend off the confiscation of her property.

The revolving door of dignitaries who rise in power threatens to trample on the pagan beliefs of Apulius’s and Mitelus’s families. So that the two families can survive and freely worship their traditional pagan gods, Lucius makes the difficult decision to start a new settlement in Julia’s homeland. Others join him on the dangerous journey to Noricum through harsh landscapes and inclement weather. They face threats of Roman commanders forcing young men to fight in their depleted armies, barbarians plundering homesteads, and bandits attacking and stealing goods from travelers. Julia’s daughters are reflections of their mother’s strength and courage as they overcome formidable obstacles to start a new life.

Author Alison Morton has masterfully crafted the chaos in the later stages of the western Roman empire as various factions took power and zealot Christians imposed their religion on others. It is an epic story spanning two decades of how two Roman families bond and make the difficult decision to resurrect their society, culture, and religion in a distant land. The attention to detail reflects the author’s impeccable research and passion for the subject. A list of characters, maps, glossaries of ancient places and terms, and a historical note are extra bonuses that help a reader navigate through the story.

Symbols from Roman mythology, woven into the story, highlight the theme that individuals have the power to overcome their struggles. The prologue depicts a scene in which one of the Fates cut Julia’s lifespan short because “each mortal can only have so much of the Universe’s goodness.” As the two families escape Rome, they hide the statue of Victory in a wagon until they reach their final destination. There, they bring it back to its original golden beauty so that it can take its rightful place in Roma Nova. Mortals can’t control what tragic events befall them, but they have the will to overcome these challenges.

I highly recommend EXSILIUM as an epic, multi-generational family saga that chronicles the lives of two Roman families fighting to preserve their ancient traditions as Christian zealots gain political influence throughout the empire.

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