"Four unforgettable characters are tested during a war between Rome and Etruscan Veii. Caecilia has long been torn between her birthplace of Rome and her adopted city of Veii. Yet faced with mounting danger to her husband, children, and Etruscan freedoms, will her call to destroy Rome succeed? Pinna has clawed her way from prostitute to the concubine of the Roman general Camillus. Deeply in love, can she exert her own power to survive the threat of exposure by those who know her sordid past? Semni, a servant, seeks forgiveness for a past betrayal. Will she redeem herself so she can marry the man she loves? Marcus, a Roman tribune, is tormented by unrequited love for another soldier. Can he find strength to choose between his cousin Caecilia and his fidelity to Rome? Who will overcome the treachery of mortals and gods?"--

One of History’s Most Sacred Treasures. . . An Age-Old Secret Conspiracy. . . Now the Truth Is Revealed. . . . Marco Valoni, chief of Italy’s Art Crimes Department, is convinced that a fire in the Cathedral of Turin that leaves a strangely mutilated, unidentifiable body on the scene was no accident. It is only the last in a long line of mishaps, going back over a hundred years, that have occurred in the church – which happens to be home to what millions of the faithful believe is that authentic burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Valoni and his crack team of specialists embark on an investigation that soon leads them into dangerous territory, territory controlled by some of the most powerful men in the world. Not only do they discover evidence of a secret Christian sect that traces its priests to the very disciples of Jesus himself, but also that the Knights Templar – supposedly destroyed forever when Philip the Fair of France watched their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, burn at the stake in 1314 – may not have disappeared at all, and may indeed be very much alive and active in the 21st century. Julia Navarro skillfully weaves the Italians’ thrilling present-day investigation with the spine-tingling history of the Holy Shroud itself, and with a chilling tale of ancient rivals, equally devoted to the relic, and equally willing to sacrifice anything – perhaps even their immortal souls–to possess it. From communities of the Middle East founded by Jesus himself, to medieval Byzantium, to the highest councils of the Vatican and the boardrooms that run the world today, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is a provocative page-turner of the highest order – one that will challenge you to believe. "The screams of the tortured men echoed within the thick walls of the dungeons. How many days had passed since they were arrested? The Templars had lost count. . . . A man, his face concealed by a hood, watched the suffering of the knights from the shadows, these knights who had once wielded their swords and risked their very lives to defend the Cross. Reveling in their torment, sick with avarice and cruelty, Philippe signaled the torturers to go on…. Broken and bloodied, Jacques de Molay could hardly see, but he sensed who it was beneath the hood. A smile came to the Grand Master’s lips when the king demanded that he confess where he had hidden the holy shroud of Jesus. At last Philippe saw that it was futile to continue. De Molay would not yield…. Fire began to burn the Templars’ ravaged flesh. Jacques de Molay’s eyes remained fixed on Philippe, and before him and the people of Paris the Grand Master proclaimed his innocence and called down divine justice on the king of France and Pope Clement, summoning them to stand with him before the judgment of God within the year. A shiver ran down Philippe’s spine as de Molay’s words rang out. No, God could not be on the side of these Templars, these heretics. He, Philippe, king of France, was obeying the laws of the Church. But was he obeying the laws of God?" —From The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud

A collection of bite-size stories of varying styles all based in the world of ancient Rome. 12 tales of the ancient world, plus a bonus tale to finish.

A detailed, finely researched and profusely illustrated history of clothing and fashion in the Roman Empire.

In the 7th Century, King Oswy of Northumbria convenes a synod to hear debate between the Roman and Celtic churches. He has to decide which shall be granted primacy in his kingdom. When an abbess from the Celtic church is murdered, an investigation is launched by Sister Fidelma, Celtic, and Brother Eadfulf, Roman.

Conspirata is “a portrait of ancient politics as a blood sport,” raves The New York Times. As he did with Imperium, Robert Harris again turns Roman history into a gripping thriller as Cicero faces a new power struggle in a world filled with treachery, violence, and vengeance. On the eve of Cicero’s inauguration as consul of Rome, a grisly discovery sends fear rippling through a city already racked by unrest. A young slave boy has been felled by a hammer, his throat slit and his organs removed, apparently as a human sacrifice. For Cicero, the ill omens of this hideous murder only increase his dangerous situation: elected leader by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival political camps. Caught in a shell game that leaves him forever putting out fires only to have them ignite elsewhere, Cicero plays for the future of the republic…and his life. There is a plot to assassinate him, abetted by a rising young star of the Roman senate named Gaius Julius Caesar—and it will take all the embattled consul’s wit, strength, and force of will to stop the plot and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship.

Anne Rice, creator of the Vampire Lestat, the Mayfair witches and the amazing worlds they inhabit, now gives us the first in a new series of novels linked together by the fledgling vampire David Talbot, who has set out to become a chronicler of his fellow Undead. The novel opens in present-day Paris in a crowded café, where David meets Pandora. She is two thousand years old, a Child of the Millennia, the first vampire ever made by the great Marius. David persuades her to tell the story of her life. Pandora begins, reluctantly at first and then with increasing passion, to recount her mesmerizing tale, which takes us through the ages, from Imperial Rome to eighteenth-century France to twentieth-century Paris and New Orleans. She carries us back to her mortal girlhood in the world of Caesar Augustus, a world chronicled by Ovid and Petronius. This is where Pandora meets and falls in love with the handsome, charismatic, lighthearted, still-mortal Marius. This is the Rome she is forced to flee in fear of assassination by conspirators plotting to take over the city. And we follow her to the exotic port of Antioch, where she is destined to be reunited with Marius, now immortal and haunted by his vampire nature, who will bestow on her the Dark Gift as they set out on the fraught and fantastic adventure of their two turbulent centuries together. Look for Anne Rice’s new book, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, coming November 29, 2016.

Centuries have passed and secularism seems to have a stronghold on our world view, but the Vatican still rules the practices and doctrines of more than a third of the earth`s people with arguably the same iron fist it always has. After all this time, the all-powerful Vatican remains a complete mystery to all those outside its walls. Until now. A small group of Vatican prelates felt they could not participate in the code of silence that has allowed corruption and hypocrisy to flourish within the seat of power of one of the world`s biggest, most influential religions. This group, which has referred to itself as the Millenarians, has preferred anonymity for fear of repercussions from the publication of this book. One of the group, Luigi Marinelli, was compelled to step forward, and his livelihood and life have been threatened in the balance. "The book was an act of love for the Church," Marinelli has been quoted as saying. He and his fellow Millenarians strongly believe that the Church they love cannot survive if the ruling powers are mired in bureaucracy, rampant careerism, corruption and lack of accountability. The anecdotal evidence they provide is shocking, at the very least.