Blog Tour Guest Post by Alison Morton, Author of EXSILIUM: A Roma Nova Foundation Story (Roma Nova Thriller Series Book 11)

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Exile – A living death to a Roman

AD 395. In a Christian Roman Empire, worshipping the traditional gods is a death sentence. Three Romans, Maelia, Lucius and Galla, faithful to their beliefs in Rome’s thousand-year religion and values, must choose. Do they stay, hoping for the best, or leave Rome forever – a rupture from everything they know – to search for a safer life?

First of all, thank you, Tony, for hosting me on your blog on EXSILIUM’S tour. Even after thirteen fiction and two non-fiction books, I still feel excited when the new book goes out into the world.

EXSILIUM and its immediate predecessor, JULIA PRIMA, are different from the other books in the Roma Nova series set sixteen hundred years later in the 21st and 20th century. Those modern ones are firmly part of the alternate history genre where the historical timeline that we live in split in the distant past and the world developed differently. The modern society based in a small part of central Europe is a Roman one with Roman values but run by women. They’re very proud of their heritage which they’ve guarded fiercely through sixteen centuries but they’re very much at cutting edge of the digital revolution. 

Back in the past, JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM, set between AD 369 and early 395, before Roma Novan timeline split in late spring 395, means they are both standard historical novels. Well, to be accurate, the split occurs during EXSILIUM. When Maelia, Lucius and Galla take the first steps down Rome’s Alta Semita street towards the Porta Flaminia in the city walls, the timeline starts to divide. So perhaps the last part of EXSILIUM does verge on alternate history!

EXSILIUM is set in the last hundred years of Ancient Rome – not that Romans of that time were aware it was coming to an end within that short a time. People couldn’t help noticing things were going to the dogs, but every generation throughout human history has said that! Late fourth century sources are not plentiful, so the novelist must fill in the gaps as competently as possible and strive to show the historical period as accurately as they can. Grief and joy were the same human feelings in 4th century Rome as they are today. 

For the vast majority of people living until fairly recently, life was short, grindingly hard and socially restricted and where hunger and early infant death were normal. But in a complex society like the Roman one, there were thriving professional, artisan and trading classes as well as strong career paths in the military. Social and financial advancement were indeed possible, but so were demotion and loss. It wasn’t always only peasants vs. lords.

The strong romantic streak in JULIA PRIMA is essential as it’s the story of when the founders of Roma Nova met, but it takes account of the legal and economic aspects of marriage which were considered at the time to be much more important than emotional connection. Rules governing families, property and paternal power ebbed and flowed over the 1,229 years of Rome’s existence in the west, sometimes becoming more restrictive, other times more relaxed. 

EXSILIUM progresses the foundation story and considers how outside forces are closing in around the characters we met in JULIA PRIMA. Time has moved on and the next generation is coming to the fore. As a serial series writer, I love seeing my characters grow and mature. Sometimes, new ones are born and others die; this reflects life. 

Conflict moves a story along and provides plenty of tension in a story and nobody does intrigue and conspiracy like the Romans. EXSILIUM’s characters face a choice between staying in Rome and taking their chances – mostly of persecution by the Christianised Roman state which could end in execution – or leaving everything they have ever known. When tolerance disappears, this is the stark choice faced by people under severe pressure from religiously motivated authoritarian regimes past and present. 

But…However strong a message we wish to convey, we should remember we’re writing fiction, not a historical essay. The personal experiences ¬ of our characters living in their natural environment (comfortably or poorly) must be at the forefront. As novelists, our job is to entertain our readers. Without smacking people in the face with our message, we should highlight how people in the past may have lived, loved and dealt with the challenges of their times. And the people in EXSILIUM certainly have challenges, as we do today.

Alison Morton

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About the Author

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but use a sharp line in dialogue. The latest, EXSILIUM, plunges us back to the late 4th century, to the very foundation of Roma Nova. She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.  Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Find out more at Alison's website  https://alison-morton.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @alison_morton.