I Am Livia - Cum Laude ~ Phyllis T. Smith

One of the first books on Kindle Unlimited and so glad I got it! Although I had 3 years of Latin in high school, I did not know Livia's story and vaguely remembered Caesar Augustus himself. I DO like books about Rome though, and enjoyed this one immensely.

Smith's characters were extremely well developed and likeable as were the descriptions of Rome in that time period. Roman houses mostly had partitions between the rooms off the Atrium, which if I knew I had forgotten. The picture to set the storyline in was drawn in a delightful fashion.

Caesar and Livia were just like any other couple in their interactions with their world and each other.A marvelously readable and gossipy kind of novel, written in Livia's voice. 

We start when Livia is a precocious 14 and her world begins to implode around her. An arranged marriage, the loss of her beloved father and then her comes this "beautiful"( her word) young man to complicate things. 

I recommend this fine novel for anyone who enjoys Ancient Roman novels or actually any novels about historical figures.