ROMANITAS by Sophia McDougall.
‘The year is 2756 AUC and the Roman Empire has lasted for over 2000 years. Magnetic railways span Roman territory from Persia to Terranova and mechanized crucifixes are ranked along the banks of the Thames…’
ROMANITAS is the first novel of an epic trilogy of novels. They are set in a contemporary world but one very different from the one we are familiar with. The Roman Empire still exists and the globe is carved up into three power blocs - the Romans, the Nihonians (Japanese) and the Chinese. Slavery, crucifixion, and the divine Emperor are the three pillars of this modern Roman society while everyday life is a mixture of ancient culture and modern technology. Christianity has ceased to exist, and Jupiter still rules most people’s religious lives.
Against this remarkable backdrop, Sophia has built an amazing adventure story that spans the globe and intertwines three lives with the future of the Empire. Sulien and Una are brother and sister, both with strange abilities to affect the world around them. They are also escaped slaves. Sulien was heading for death on the cross when his sister rescued him from his prison ferry on the Thames. They must now travel through Gaul to a kingdom of renegades deep within the Pyrenees where they will be safe.
Marcus Novius Faustus Leo is the heir to the empire - the only son of dead parents. When he survives an assassination attempt he has no choice but to flee. These three people meet and a temporary alliance is formed, a pact to restore Marcus to Rome and to bring down the whole edifice of the slave empire.
I found this one of the most accomplished and impressive partials that has ever come across my desk. Not only is Sophia an amazing writer she is also has a soaring imagination. She has visualized every aspect of this alternate world and that knowledge is implicit in everything she writes. Comparisons are tricky with something this unique. But if I were a Hollywood agent I would draw parallels with the scope and detail of Robert Harris’s Fatherland and the familiar but alien feel of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.
We are publishing in the spring of 2005 and already have impressive marketing plans underway. Romanitas has just been bought by Bantam in the USA through Emma Parry at Carlisle and Company.
Amazingly, Sophia herself is just 23 and this is her debut. She is an Oxford English graduate and also a playwright. Simon Trewin said ‘Sophia is an extraordinary writer and ROMANITAS is the most exciting commercial debut to have crossed my desk since the year MM.’
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