Roman Woman: Everyday Life in Hadrian's Britain - Lindsay Allason-Jones ~ Summa Cum Laude ~ 5 Stars

Such a wonderful book, I put everything aside to read this one and wish I could find another. I am sort of obsessed with accurate stories about Roman Britain that make the characters feel contemporary and I feel this one did just that.

Senovara the female protagonist is a hard working person from an earlier time who, nonetheless, has motives and feelings that I could identify with. I saw reviews that said it was not a romance or a mystery but perhaps it was a little of both? 

I say that because even with the cultural constraints on marriage, Senovara and Quintus had a great deal of love for each other and their respective families. The story ends with Senovara "adjusting herself to fit more comfortably against Quintus' rough tunic.

Mystery is surely there with the military wives learning how to interact with other cultures both as marital partners and their friends and peers. Mysterious also is what gods were answering their prayers as they would speak them. In some cases the wives were more sophisticated but often the men as we read about the eclipse and it's portents.

My 3 years of high school Latin and my degree in anthropology has made me appreciate who we are and where we came from over many centuries. Latin and the Romans have shone an everlasting spotlight back in time for all of us. I hated for this book to end. Summa Cum Laude Lindsay Allason-Jones