The Equite's Son: A Novel of Ancient Rome

A tale of adventure; a tale of legends, both human and divine; a tale of forbidden love; a tale of a man at war with a great enemy and with himself—The Equite’s Son is all of these.

Forswearing his rustic background, young Marcus, son of a Roman nobleman, defies his father’s wishes and seeks adventure as a member of Julius Caesar’s staff during the Gallic Wars.

He is soon leading an epic life of perilous mountain crossings, attempted assassinations, a love affair with a Celtic priestess, behind-the-lines missions with Green Beret–like Roman commandos, and desperate midnight rides. And he finds that when the face of a beautiful woman repeatedly appears to you on the surface of ponds and deep wells, you should run the other way.

In these amours and battles Marcus discovers that almost everything he has held to be true is false, that he is at war not only against barbarian tribes, but against something deep within himself. And he discovers, too, that the strange dreams that have plagued him since childhood may, all along, have been drawing him to these distant lands, and an unimagined destiny.

Stephen Holgate is the award-winning author of Tangier, To Live and Die in the Floating World, and Sri Lanka. A retired diplomat, he lives outside Portland, Oregon.

Cover Design by Nurmi Husa
Cover art by Jeff Holgate & Nurmi Husa