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who is going to get this novel when it comes out in America its called empress of rome : den of wolves it comes out june 1 2010 then there is the sequel nest of vipers it wil lbe released in august
the novel was written by luke devenish and was previously released in australia and new zeland in 2008
Empress Of Rome: Den Of Wolves Summary THERE IS A SHE-WOLF IN THE SHADOWS…
It is 44BC and the rival clans of Rome are driving the Republic towards a violent, blood-soaked end. The jealous Claudians covet the power of the Julians, who are kings in all but name.
A tiny infant utters the prophecy of a goddess. If the darkly beautiful thirteen year old Livia Drusilla marries her bastard cousin, eleven year old Tiberius Nero, four great kings of Rome will spring from her womb. Four great Claudian kings…
Livia and her child groom begin their star-crossed marriage, but scheming Livia has dangerous ideas. She believes herself greater than the gods, and she doubts the interpretation of the prophecy.
When Julius Caesar is murdered the fortunes of the Claudians take a sudden, deadly turn. The great patricians become paupers, and Livia and her husband must flee Rome or face being killed as criminals.
But Rome falls under the spell of Caesar's golden-haired nephew, Octavian. The youthful dictator in the making offers Livia and her boy husband forgiveness. Yet Livia sees more than the promise of mere forgiveness in Rome's most desired new man. She sees Octavian as the true sire for her prophesised kings. And she sees her own chance for power…
So begins a murderous tale of sex, corruption and obsession as Livia pursues her great destiny.
No crime is too shocking. No sin is too low. No evil is beyond her grasp.
Narrated by the 100 year old slave, Iphicles, and set in a time where no woman could hope to wield power, Den Of Wolves brings life to the legendary women behind the legendary men. With ambition, beauty and cunning as their weapons, the women of Rome are history's unsung survivors. Unsung until now…
Empress of rome: nest of vipers summary
THREE WOMEN, ONE GOAL...
Rome is bathed in blood as the drug-addled Emperor Tiberius is tormented by terrors of treason. The innocent are butchered while the guilty do evil in darkness. And none are guiltier than the Emperor’s devoted and deluded ‘son’, Sejanus.
In this city of poison three beautiful women are locked in a lethal rivalry. Agrippina: driven mad with grief, her obsession with vengeance for her murdered husband imperils the lives of her children. Apicata: robbed of her eyes and embittered in her heart, she schemes in the shadows to empower the husband who despises her. Livilla: sensual and sly, she is gripped by a lust for a secret lover as deadly as he is desirable. Three women, one goal: who will be Empress of Rome?
Moving stealthily among them is Iphicles, arch schemer and slave, whose haunted heart is lightened by the eunuch Lygdus, his willing apprentice in murder. With paralysed Livia now a helpless captive to her slave, it is the repellent brat Little Boots’ turn to profit from prophecy. But as Iphicles’ deadly plan to enthrone Little Boots unfolds, Livia struggles secretly towards recovery with the help of the sorceress, Martina. Rome is a nest of vipers, and Livia, the one true Empress of Rome, is hell-bent on wreaking her vengeance…
Here's an excerpt of the novel
Apicata could tell who it was at the other end of the corridor by perfume alone. Livilla reeked like a whore’s funeral, drenched in more gladiolus oil than anyone else at Oxheads. Apicata paused in her progress for a moment and waited, assuming an expression of respectfulness. When Livilla drew near, headed in the opposite direction, Apicata made a little show of waiting for her to say something. But Livilla said nothing, as Apicata knew she wouldn’t, so she stepped into her path. ‘Lady Livilla, didn’t you see me here in the dark?’ Apicata didn’t need her sight to feel the look of contempt on the patrician woman’s face – not that she cared.
‘I saw you clearly enough,’ said Livilla.
‘Do you look well tonight? I would be so pleased to know.’
There was an odour to Livilla that lay somewhere beneath the cloy gladiolus; a raw, salty smell – fetid. Apicata’s nose wrinkled as she tried to determine it.
‘I look very well indeed,’ said Livilla. ‘My husband tells me I am glowing like the sun.’
‘Does he? How nice for you,’ said Apicata, smiling. She decided that this was where their discourse should end and she made to move on. But she had unleashed something within Livilla.
‘Don’t you want to know why?’
With such an invitation Apicata wasn’t sure how she could resist. ‘Has something happened?’
‘I’m with child.’
This was startling news and Apicata was taken aback by it. ‘What a wonderful thing,’ she said, ‘and after so many barren years since the birth of Tiberia. Your husband must have given up hope of ever getting a son.’
Livilla remained silent on that but Apicata knew she was sneering. The buried stink of her grew, as if her heartbeat was racing. It was sour in Apicata’s nostrils. ‘How many months have passed?’
‘Nearly eight,’ said Livilla.
Apicata failed to stop the look of shock that took her.
‘I’m quite advanced,’ said Livilla with pleasure in her voice at having seen Apicata’s expression. ‘The augur promises me that the skies indicate a boy.’
It was Apicata’s turn for silence. If Livilla was so visibly with child why had no one told her of it before now? Why had Sejanus not bothered to report it?
‘Do you wish to feel my son?’ Livilla whispered into Apicata’s darkness. Before Apicata could decline, Livilla had snatched at her hand and placed it on her full, taut belly. ‘The augur is right, isn’t he? You can tell that I’m carrying a boy…’
Apicata guessed the smell: the fecund stink of sex. Livilla was moist in her loins – an obscenity in a woman carrying child. The foul, rank odour of her squeezed Apicata by the throat. She murmured the words of a curse in her mind. This child would never see adulthood and its father would fall, taking the ***** Livilla with him. Apicata used this inner malice as a comfort, a shield; a source of quiet strength. ‘I believe you are right,’ she said at last, ‘it is the feel of a boy. I wish an easy birth for you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Livilla.
Apicata removed her hand, nodded and smiled, and then made to continue her passage down the corridor. Livilla said nothing more. After several steps Apicata sensed that Livilla hadn’t moved from where they had stood together – she could hear no steps in the opposite direction. Apicata continued a little further before she stopped again. She could hear nothing at all of Livilla behind her; the Emperor’s daughter-in-law hadn’t moved. Apicata turned around again, facing the direction from which she had come. She knew that Livilla must still be there – and she knew that Livilla must surely be looking at her.
‘You think you’re untouchable?’ Apicata muttered low under her breath. She waited. If Livilla stared at her as Apicata imagined she did, then the high-born woman would have picked up her words. She was rewarded.
‘I don’t think it – I know it,’ Livilla said.
Apicata gasped at the patrician woman’s blind arrogance. The she laughed. ‘But only Sejanus is untouchable, Lady,’ she whispered so quietly that even the household gods would have doubted their ears, ‘because only my husband strives to rid Rome of its traitors. Only my husband has dedicated his life to this task in his undying love for the Emperor. And only my husband can say that the hands of vile ambition can never, ever bring him down...’
Apicata waited for any sound at all to come from Livilla’s direction.
‘I don’t doubt your words,’ Livilla whispered, finally.
Apicata remained sightlessly staring for what seemed like an eternity. Then, at last, Livilla’s retreating footsteps told her that this conversation was done. When she was quite sure she was alone again, Apicata used her nose to take her back to the place where Livilla had stood. She dropped to her hands and knees and held her face an inch from the floor. The juice of Livilla’s sex had run down her legs, falling to the floor like rain drops.
‘She is a ****,’ Apicata whispered to herself, ‘the lowest and filthiest of sluts. She’s on heat like a she-wolf while she carries an innocent in her belly.’
Apicata stayed where she was for some minutes, crouched low and inhaling, willing her hatred to empower her
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