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AD 188. When Marcus Septimus’s wife 188. When Marcus Septimus’s wife and son are kidnapped, he turns to Libertus for help. A ransom demand has arrived. Unless Marcus uses his position as senior magistrate to release a prisoner, he will never see his family alive again. Libertus is well aware of his patron’s dilemma: give in to the kidnappers and lose his reputation, or stand firm and run the risk of losing something much more precious. He knows that tracking down the parties responsible is the only solution. But Libertus, recovering from a dangerous fever, can scarcely lift his head from his pillow, let alone catch a criminal. And someone seems intent on making sure he never recovers. How can he save his patron’s loved ones and himself this time? The Consequences of
Marriage
As they travel, Bibi tells
her story. She married a poet, lived briefly in New York, raised five
children and still deeply grieves over Graham, the child that ran away,
and was never found. James meets Liz, the daughter who is failing
miserably at living the good life and Roddy, the son who rebelled
against his hippy parents by becoming a banker. James is told of moments
—glorious, absurd, poignant and tragic. As James learns about Bibi’s
bad decisions and impetuous mistakes he realises that he’s being told
the story of a marriage. And learning a little about how to make the
decisions that will shape his own future...
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When James McElroy
reads Bibi Saunders’ advert for a lodger, he pictures a glamorous
landlady with whom he will have a pleasant, bantering relationship. In
fact Bibi is in her seventies, once beautiful, now rise, and full of
joie de vivre. Soon she inveigles the diffident James into driving her
on a trip across Britain in her vintage car, visiting her family.