Pauline Gedge

"All we wanted was to be left alone".

This is a book that needs to be read slowly. Come to it with a clear mind. Yes, it is full of difficult names and different tribes. Leaders of both sides come and go, all realistic characters that tell stories of a far-away time but carry a message that never becomes old. The desire of everyone of us to be free, free in every way, regardless of religion, ethnicity, financial status etc. Yes, we all live together sharing our Earth but this doesn't mean show more that the few can dictate a way of life to be shared by all, to obey blindly. Where is the freedom of choice we all desire? Is it a given? Far from it, I'd say. In our days, we see enemies of a different kind of oppression, enemies that are invisible, enemies that do not brandish swords, but money, surpluses and modern machine guns.

When you read the final page of a 700 book and you find that there wasn't a single ''filler'' moment, you experience something rare, especially for a lover of Historical fiction, a genre notorious for its ''fillers'''. There are numerous books about Boudica's rebellion against the army of Rome. the best example is the tetralogy of Boudica by Manda Scott. (If you haven't read it, you must!) It is the first book, though, that Caradoc takes a part of the spotlight. My knowledge of him was limited to the Celtic class in univeristy. Here, the narration is divided between his attempts to free a nation and Boudica's struggle to find the balance between the wishes of her cowardish husbad and her fiery nature that longs for a free Albion.

"Such a little word, freedom, such a small request, and yet the asking of it has consumed the soul of a people."

The fight seems doomed from the start, the conclusion is well-known. Still, the author has created a book that takes you in an exciting, mystical journey. Each character has something to offer. Caradoc, his illusions, Eurgain, her fierce devotion, Gladys, her love, Aricia carries the wounds of the past like markings from a hot iron, causing havoc, bringing dishonour. She was my favourite character in all her controversial nature. I found Caradoc a bit naive, and watching Boudica trying to put up with Prasutagus' notions of a Roman peace was painful. He should have known that the lion would not lie down with the lamb.

There is a sentence that struck me the moment I read it. ''Far away, in the swirling autumn mists of Albion, the light of freedom flickered and went out.'' Thank God that the statue of Boudica and her daughters in London by Thomas Thornycroft, facing Big Ben, stands as a witness to the candle of freedom that is put out far too many times and, yet, is always lit again... show less

This was the third reading for me of House of Dreams, by Canadian author, Pauline Gedge. The novel still stands up.

Set in ancient Egypt, House of Dreams takes you through political machinations and the vain dreams of an ambitious and fiesty girl known as Thu. Gedge's ability to raise an ancient world, complete with the arid atmosphere pinching your nose and the feel fine linen on your burning skin is utterly spell-binding. A power-house writer, and a fabulous read.

This epic novel mainly tells the story of Caradoc, the chief's son of the Catuvellauni, and his fight against the Roman invaders. The last 100 pages are about Boudicca's struggles against alien superiority, and take part nearly 20 years after the Roman invasion.

The book's sense of time and place is wonderful and the reader is swept along by the ancient Britons' desperate, but ultimately futile fight for freedom against Roman domination. I felt as if I was right there, in the dense green show more Catuvellaun forests, the wind-swept hills of Brigantia, or the majestic but barren mountains of the west, sharing the freedom fighters' hardships and feeling their pain. The battle scenes, though mercifully infrequent, don't leave much to the imagination and describe the clashes between the tribes and the Romans in all their noisy, violent detail; I could almost hear the Britons' war cries and ringing of swords and smell the air heavy with the metallic scent of blood, the passages propelling me along and leaving me virtually breathless and exhausted. After the nearly 700 pages it felt like I had lost some good friends and it was strange not to pick up the book again the following night after all the time I had spent with my nose between its pages.

This book deserves to be more widely read, an absolute must for anyone with an interest in historical fiction covering this particular time in history. show less

I took a break from mainlining medieval history (Just picture me as Scarface and instead of Coke, piles of jumbled medieval history books I’ve been inhaling) to finish this excellent series.

Ms. Gedge remains firmly one of my favorite historical fiction authors. The trials and tribulations of the Tao family have come to a close and with their ending a bittersweet goodbye on my part.