Author(s): Richard Platt

Fiction (8 to 12 years)

Explore the city at the heart of the ancient Roman Empire with Iliona, a Greek girl captured by pirates and sold into slavery. The year is AD 102 and Iliona, an educated Greek girl, has been orphaned and sold as a slave in Rome. Apart from her beloved diary, she hasn't a friend in the world...But the family she works for are not unkind, and as Iliona begins to make friends and look around her, she discovers that the teeming city at the heart of the empire is a fascinating place. Through Iliona's eyes, watch the Roman army return in triumph from war against the Dacians, visit Nero's baths, witness gladiators fighting in the famous amphitheatre, attend the senate and a sumptuous banquet, escape a house fire, discover how Roman women dress their hair...and celebrate with her on the day that she is granted her freedom for her bravery.