Hookline Books

 The Half-Slave

Trevor Bloom

The year is 476 AD – the Roman Empire is disintegrating and Germanic tribes are moving south. Among them are the Franks. Their ruthless young Overlord, Clovis, plans to build a new empire that will eclipse Rome’s fading power, but his hope is jeopardized by the massing forces of a seaborne Saxon uprising.

One young man is sent to find out where the Saxons will strike. Ascha is the son of a Saxon warlord and a Roman slave mother, a half-slave locked in the limbo between slave and free. As a hostage of the Franks, Ascha struggles to survive. But when the Overlord offers to make him a free man if he will spy on his own people Ascha must summon all his resources and his courage to discover where his loyalties lie.

Reading Group Reviews:

 'Thoroughly convincing recreation of an entirely different era which kept me fascinated by the characters and wholly involved in the fate of the hero, with some gripping situations and moral dilemmas. I found it increasingly hard to put down, so a lot of midnight oil.'

 'A refreshing lack of idealisation – even of the hero; I believed in the characters.'

 'I’d happily read the sequel!'

 Historical Novel Review said:

‘I found the realism in the characters, situations, and deftly woven plot strands made this a gripping story.’

ISBN: 9780955563065

Price: £10.99  in shops

£8.99 when bought directly from our website.

Ebook: £3.99