“You should have trusted me. You should have given me a choice.”
AD 370, Roman frontier province of Noricum. Neither wholly married nor wholly divorced, Julia Bacausa is trapped in the power struggle between the Christian church and her pagan ruler father.
Tribune Lucius Apulius’s career is blighted by his determination to stay faithful to the Roman gods in a Christian empire. Stripped of his command in Britannia, he’s demoted to the backwater of Noricum – and encounters Julia.
Unwittingly, he takes her for a whore. When confronted by who she is, he is overcome with remorse and fear. Despite this disaster, Julia and Lucius are drawn to one another by an irresistible attraction.
But their intensifying bond is broken when Lucius is banished to Rome. Distraught, Julia gambles everything to join him. But a vengeful presence from the past overshadows her perilous journey. Following her heart’s desire brings danger she could never have envisaged…
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Alison Morton
First of all, thank you, Mary Ann, for hosting JULIA PRIMA and me on your blog. I’m not sure my life is particularly sprinkled with fun facts, though some of them may strike your readers as quirky and interesting and perhaps raise an eyebrow, if not a smile.
Fun Fact No.1: Six years in military
As
a result of my making a casual enquiry more out of curiosity than anything, the
administrative officer of my local unit invited me to an information evening.
Six years later, after having travelled all over the NATO area, I ended up as a
captain commanding a specialist communications detachment. In my Royal Signals
regiment, women learned the same technical skills as men. Although some jobs
weren’t open to women in the 1980s, we spent hours training with weapons – in
my case, 9mm pistol and small machine gun, so that we could defend ourselves.
Safety was hammered into us. These years eventually led to my writing about military heroines and the skills and strong camaraderie of that
life.
A bonus fun fact: After 30+ years, I’m still married to Steve, the same Northern bloke whom I met when I led a military exercise to Cyprus.
Fun Fact No.2: I’m a former professional translator
Although
history, especially Roman, was my first great love academically speaking – I completed
my MA with distinction in history – my first degree was in languages. I’d added
a post-graduate diploma in translation. After the birth of my son, I worked on
some freelance projects from French and German into English to fit in with
having a young child, but within weeks, other languages practitioners made
contact. In the end, I set up and ran a translation company covering all
European languages, including Russian. And yes, I had a rocket scientist and an
ex-GCHQ translator working for me. Another brush with the secret services!
Fun Fact No.3: Mini mad!
Not
all at once, but I have owned and driven seven Minis, five originals or
variants, and two modern BMW ones, including a 1275 GT sporty model. Goodness, that could shift! They all had names such as Little Grey Min, Purple Min, and
The Sh*t-Shoveller, and I hated saying goodbye to each one.
Fun Fact No.4: I live in France but write in English
Steve
and I have been living in southwestern France for over twelve years. Five years
before we moved, we’d bought the French house as a holiday home with the idea
of retiring there many years in the future. But one day, Steve, known as The
Keeper of the Spreadsheet, announced that two vital lines correlating living
costs and required income had crossed. We could move to France much earlier.
Our house went on the market with my new critique writing partner’s estate agency! It was in prime commuter land on the Kent/Sussex borders, and similar houses sold within a week. Hooray!
Unfortunately,
Lehmann Brothers crashed, triggering the great financial crisis of 2008, and
meltdown ensued. We went from a position of a contracts race two days before
(two people were vying to buy our house) to no buyer. It took a further eighteen months
and seven more potential buyers (each new one offering more than the one
before!) to secure the final couple who signed on the dotted line. Steve was a
nervous wreck by this time, being on the edge of giving in his notice each
time, not to mention my estate agent/writing partner’s acute embarrassment in
the drawn-out process of selling our home, but happily, it all paid off in the
end.
Fun Fact No.5: The day I caught the Roman bug
Thinking
of a small curly-headed child walking on a huge multi-coloured mosaic under a
hot Spanish sun. She crouches down and runs her fingers over it. In her other
hand are a drawing pad and pencil bag full of crayons so she can make a sketch
for her ‘what-I-did-in-my-holidays’ school project. But she is entranced by the
figures and swirls. She asks her father about the people who lived in these now
ruined houses. He explains about senators and sailors, soldiers and slaves, the
sea and the storytellers. The little girl thinks about all this and asks what
the mothers did. Her father informs her they stayed at home and looked after
the house and the children. The little girl frowns, then shakes her head. Her
own mother is a school head of department. Ladies go out to work, don’t they?
The little girl looks up at her father with an eleven-year-old’s piercing
curiosity.
“But suppose the mummies and other ladies were in charge of the Romans? What would it be like?”
“Well,
what do you think it would have
been like?”
her father replies.
I was always impressed by the way my father threw that question back at me. From that conversation, my fascination for all things Roman grew, and I devoured every bit of information about them I came across. I’m still doing it many decades later with my Roma Nova series.
Alison Morton
Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her nine-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution, and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.
She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years of 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 latest two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.
Social media links:
Alison Morton's World of Thrillers Facebook Twitter Alison's writing blog Instagram
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Thank you for hosting Alison Morton with her Five Fun Facts today! xx
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting JULIA PRIMA, Mary Ann. This post was such fun to do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such interesting experiences.
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