Centurion’s Daughter by Justin Swanton
Review:
Adventure, friendship, faith, love, and loyalty fill this historical teen novel. The novel is set in 486 during the war between the Roman Empire and the Franks, led by King Chlodovech, and is a fictional account of how one young woman could have possibly affected history.
When Amelia arrives in Soissons in search of the father she has never met, she has no idea how much her life will change. A series of right-place/right-time moments puts this young woman in some unusual situations where she relies on her Catholic faith to influence history.
This was a time period I knew nothing about, and while the fictional circumstances may have been a bit far-fetched at times, it was in interesting way to bring this time period to life.
Summary:
Her Frankish mother dead, 17-year-old Aemilia arrives at Soissons in Roman Gaul in search of her Roman father whom she has never met. She knows only that his name is Tarunculus and that he is a former centurion. She finds an old man fixed on the past, attempting in vain to kindle a spark of patriotism in his dispirited countrymen. Soon, Aemilia is caught up in her father’s schemes to save the Empire and the intrigues of the Roman nobility in Soissons. In the war between Franks and Romans to decide the fate of the last imperial province, Providence will lead her down a path she could never have imagined. Written and illustrated by master storyteller Justin Swanton, Centurion’s Daughter is a thoughtful and compelling journey to a little-known period of history when an empire fell and the foundations of Christendom were laid.
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