About the Author:
Stephen Baxter, author of the space duology featuring Proxima and Ultima, is the national bestselling author of Ark and Flood. He is a winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for the best alternate history novel of the year, and he won the Philip K. Dick Award twice, for The Time Ships and for Vacuum Diagrams. He was also a recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for The Time Ships.
From Booklist:
About 40 years after the death of Julius Caesar, a child is born in Britain. As his mother struggles in hard labor, she prophesies in Latin, a language she doesn't speak. The forecast is written down and kept as a treasure that will, if properly interpreted, aid the family in times to come. Following the prophecy, the family makes peace with Claudius and prospers under Roman rule while retaining ties to the homeland. Constantine's visit to Britain, however, tears the family asunder, and part of the prophecy is lost. As Roman power wanes and barbarians encroach, the prophecy, with its promise of foreknowledge for those who can construe it, is renewed. Baxter follows what is known of Roman Britain, including the results of recent archaeological research, adding the element of how much influence belief in a knowable future might exert. Embedded in Roman British history, the family's 400-year effort to protect and interpret the prophecy constitutes a very coherent, readable story, which this book just begins. Frieda Murray
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