Boudica and the Lost Roman by
Mike Ripley
hbk out November 05
Published by Severn House
at £18.99
Mike Ripley is one of the funniest writers in Britain, attested by the fact that he has twice won the
Crime Writers Association 'Last Laugh' award. The many fans of his 'Angel' novels will notice a
sharp change of direction in Boudica, his first foray into historical novels. It is not meant to be funny,
but Mike's humour keeps breaking through likes bubbles on the porridge. This is the story of the
extraordinary revolt of the queen of the Iceni in AD 60, a brief interlude in history recorded by Tacitus,
which has left an indelible mark on the British record, as well as her formidable chariot statue on the
Embankment, in the city which she destroyed, along with Colchester and St Albans.
Mike Ripley is himself a professional archaeologist from Boudica's home ground in East Anglia, and
has greatly expanded and improved upon Tacitus's dry account by inventing two eyewitnesses, each
with a very different viewpoint on the affair. The 'Lost Roman' is Olussa, a Greek merchant based in
London, engaged in rather dodgy business practices importing goods from Gaul to sell in Britain. The
other is Roscius, a tough Roman soldier on the staff of the Governor, Suetonius Paulinus. Olussa gets
blackmailed by the Procurator, Number Two in the Roman heirachy, to enter Iceni territory in Norfolk
as an economic spy, as Seneca, back in Rome, wants to call in previous loans made by Claudius to
tribal kings.
The tale that follows pulls no punches when it comes to murder, rape, looting and genocide, tracing the
whole violent story from the flogging of Boudica and the ravishing of her daughters to the terrible
retribution meted out by the Iceni – and then the merciless crushing of the revolt by the legions. The
arrogant rapacity and cruelty of the oppressive Roman regime is matched only by the blood-lust of the
native Celts, bent on revenge.
All written in a modern idiom, the text has a convincingly eye-witness feel to it, as if Mike Ripley was
actually standing behind Olussa and Roscius, banging away on his lap-top to describe the events of two
millennia ago with sympathy and wit. A painless way to learn history while being greatly entertained,
written by a most talented writer who is also an expert on those ancient times.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Boudica and the Lost Roman by
Mike Ripley
