The Moon on the Hills

Absolutely gripping novel of Roman Britain -- Corinium [Cirencester] in 367 AD. I read it straight through twice, one time right after the other. A soldier, commander of the Corinium "Civil Guard", Saturninus, has a frightening nightmare about a mysterious man named Caelofernus, who will kill him by the time of the full moon -- 4 nights hence. He also dreams of his vanished sweetheart, Pascentia. Is she still alive as the dream shows him, having survived a storm at sea and a shipwreck on her way to Gaul? He visits a young priestess of the spring of the goddess Leucesca, Vilbia, to find answers. She confirms his dream, by their seeing visions of Caelofernus and Pascentia that the goddess has sent in water of the goddess's fountain. Saturninus and his second-in-command, the insouciant, laissez-faire womanizer Canio, journey and search for Caelofernus. Will they find him before the deadline to deal with him in spite of false leads and lies and will Saturninus find his lady love?

The author has written gorgeous descriptions of the Cotswold area. They reminded me of the nature writing of Bryher in "Roman Wall". There is a précis of action in this volume in "Sower of the seeds of dreams" [v.2 in this series] which I did read, but I found it much more valuable to read this volume itself. A lot of the backstory and characterizations are cleared up. I felt as though I was right in the middle of the action; it was so vivid. I also was impatient to discover the denouement and sometimes would urge the characters on to follow or not to follow a certain course of action.

Highly recommended. ( )