The Last Caesar (The Aulus Severus Adventures): 1

AD 68: the tyrant emperor Nero has no son and no heir. With the very real possibility that Rome might become a republic once more, the ambitions of a few are about to bring untold corruption, chaos and bloodshed.

Aulus Caecina Severus, hero of the campaign against Boudica, is caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow Caesar's dynasty, where he will commit treason, raise a rebellion, and face torture and intrigue. But is it really all for the good of Rome? The boundary between service and self-preservation is far from clear, and keeping to the dangerous path he's chosen requires all Severus' skills: as a cunning soldier and, increasingly, a deft politician.

As the Year of the Four Emperors unfolds, the mighty Roman empire will be plunged into anarchy and civil war...

The Last Caesar, the first in the Aulus Severus Adventures, is perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane

Henry Venmore-Rowland was born and bred in Suffolk and graduated from Oxford with a degree in Ancient & Modern History. The Last Caesar (Canelo), his astonishingly mature first novel, is a wonderfully readable story of military action and high political intrigue in Nero's last year as Emperor. Its narrator, Aulus Caecina Severus, is an ambitious soldier who is wickedly honest about himself and the corruption involved in attaining "the purple". The Sword and the Throne (Canelo) concludes his adventures in the Year of the Four Emperors.