A battle-hardened soldier has just 24 hours to expose a deadly conspiracy at the heart of the Roman Empire in this brilliantly gripping historical thriller from Sunday Times bestseller and Ancient Rome expert, Harry Sidebottom.________________________A lone figure stands silhouetted atop the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Behind him, the sun is setting over the centre of the known world. Far below, the river is in full flood. The City of Rom...

‘Absorbing and brilliant … Game of Thrones without the dragons’ THE TIMESThe third book in Sidebottom’s epic series set in third century Rome; a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.Rome AD238. The Year of the Six Emperors.The empire is in turmoil. With the Gordiani, father and son, dead in Africa, the tyrant Maximinus Thrax vies to reclaim the throne.The Senate, who supported the revolt of the Gordiani, must act quickly to avoid th...

A tense and brilliantly dramatic 30-page short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.This thrilling short story opens at the end of BLOOD AND STEEL and is the perfect trailer for Harry Sidebottom’s new novel FIRE AND SWORD.AD 238. When Gordian the Younger is brutally cut down at the battle of Carthage, his ally Phillyrio and a centurion from his army must make for the hills of northern Africa, to escape Maximinus’s army. But their enemy, led ...

AD 255; the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. Yet the most lethal threat lurks far to the east in Persia, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. The far-flung and isolated citadel of Arete faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences of this lonely city; one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a o...

The thrilling new historical adventure in the Warrior of Rome series from Sunday Times bestseller Harry Sidebottom.AD 265, Gaul - The Roman Empire is on the brink.Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Posthumus.War has come.Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive the campaign and finally retire to his beloved Sicily, it's...

**ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • See ancient Rome through the eyes of a gladiator—from the evening before the games at the Colosseum to the evening after"A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible." —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History**What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of...

‘Absorbing and brilliant … Game of Thrones without the dragons’ THE TIMESThe third book in Sidebottom’s epic series set in third century Rome; a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.Rome AD238. The Year of the Six Emperors.The empire is in turmoil. With the Gordiani, father and son, dead in Africa, the tyrant Maximinus Thrax vies to reclaim the throne.The Senate, who supported the revolt of the Gordiani, must act quickly to avoid th...

From the author of The Last Hour comes another fast-paced thriller, which follows Valens, an inexperienced officer in the Roman Army who finds himself in charge of a desperate rescue attempt deep behind enemy lines .When Valens, a junior officer in the Roman Army, joins a crack squad of soldiers on a dangerous mission, little does he know what's in store for him. Tasked with rescuing the young Prince Sasan, who has been imprisoned in the impenetrable Castle of Silence, the troops s...

A tense and brilliantly dramatic 20-page short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.AD238. Emperor Maximinus’ reign is under threat as Gordian the Younger and Elder are proclaimed as Emperor.Julius Burdo, official of the Empire, must accompany the knife-boy Castricius north, to assassinate Maximinus. The order is from the new Augusti; death is a certain fate to both men, whether they succeed or fail.But as the two men journey north, ...

Warrior of Rome: The Wolves of the North by Harry Sidebottom marks the start of a new trilogy within the Warrior of Rome series.AD263 - barbarian invasions and violent uprisings threaten to tear apart the Imperium of Rome.In the north, the tribes are increasingly bold in their raids on the Imperium - their savagery unlike anything Rome has known before. Ballista must undertake his most treacherous journey yet - a covert attempt to turn the barbaria...

From the bestselling author of WARRIOR OF ROME comes the first book in a new series set in third century Rome, a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.In a single year six Emperors will lay claim to the Throne of the Caesars…SPRING AD235Dawn on the Rhine. A surprise attack and the brutal murder of the Emperor Alexander and his mother ends the Severan dynasty and shatters four decades of Roman certainty.Military hero Maximinus Thrax i...

**Discover explosive action and white-knuckle drama in the spectacular second instalment in Harry Sidebottom's vivid five-part series, perfect for fans of Bernard CornwellMesopotamia, AD 260**Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, the Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. The shame of the vanquished beats down mercilessly like the white sun, as the frail old emperor prostrates himself before Shapur, King of Kings.Ballista vows to avenge...