This is for a 12yo boy just starting on a major project on the fall of the Western Roman Empire. I was looking for some immersive fiction based there and then to give him a feel of the times and some ideas to start researching.
He’s an OK but not great reader for his age, and the book shouldn’t be too big as we don’t want to daunt him, also there isn’t much time! I ruled out the Colleen McCulloch books for that reason, for instance.
Any recommendations from parents, or anyone really, would be very welcome! Thanks folks.
S.P.Q.R., by John Maddox Roberts, is good. It isn’t written for kids, but I think a twelve year old could handle it, and it isn’t too long. One thing I like about it is that the main protagonist(and the story is told in the first person) is not written as a person with contemporary sensibilities. He doesn’t go around feeling guilty about owning slaves, or thinking women should be equal to men.
Fair warning, there is one sex scene involving Decius, the main character. But I imagine by the time a boy is twelve he’s probably going to be able to handle that.
There are also a number of sequels to the first book, but it’s best to read in order. The story takes place before the Republic had died. Gaius Julius Caesar is still alive, and it’s just before the period of his greatest power.
Those both look good, and Amazon has led me from them to Linday Davis and Stephen Saylor (all though the latter is a bit early, being 80bc). At the moment we’re inclining to the Davis books:
If anyone has any more nominations, go for it! Thanks for the great help so far.
Most of the books so far nominated are about the Cesarian era. One excellent novel about the decline-and-fall years is The Death Of Attila, by Cecelia Holland. A pretty submersive look at late Roman and Hun culture. As I recall, there was nothing in it that would make it utterly inappropriate for a 12 year old.
Trust me, you wouldn’t want to give it to a 12-year-old. But read it yourself, and you’ll thank me! If you can get past . . . certain things . . . Raptor is the only novel I’ve ever read with a hermaphrodite protagonist. (Paging Eve!) But there’s also plenty of rich narrative about the cultures of the Fifth-Century Goths, Romans, and Byzantines.
I’m in the middle of Raptor myself, and I’ll back up BrainGlutton on this one. It’s wonderfully written, exhaustively researched, has wonderful characters, follows exciting events, and has way more sex than even a teenage boy would want.
Detectives in Togas, by Henry Winterfield, might give a good sense of the times, and is written for that age. Might be hard to dig up, though.
Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill has a couple of Roman episodes - the rest of the book covers other time-periods from English history, but is none the worse for all that - and should be just about right for a 12yo reader.
The Eagle of the Ninth is set in Roman Britain, most of the action takes place beyond Hadrian’s Wall among the “uncivilised” tribes, the protagonists are an ex-army commander (young but invalided out) and an ex-gladiator (bought as a slave by the other guy).
This site actually has worksheets and stuff for teachers to use withe the books.
Another favourite of mine looks as if it may be out of print - Dawn Wind was about a young Briton making his life in a country recently abandoned by the Romans and inundated with Saxons. If you can get hold of it … the “hero” is about 15 I think, there are good descriptions of war, wounds, the ruins of once grand cities, outposts of civilisation … I can’t think of anything better.