She has broken a law that carries the death penalty ~
In second century Rome, Licinia doesn’t want to leave all she knows and loves, but she has broken a law that carries the death penalty – she is a Christian. Worse, she shared her faith with her friend, a Roman matron. Her brother Sextus, not a Christian himself, has concealed Licinia’s belief to protect her, but her reckless faith makes that ever more difficult. As a praetor who sits in judgement over people who break Roman law, he decides to send her far from Rome under an assumed name, hoping she will be safe where his political enemies can’t find her and expose her faith.
Brutus, wealthy equestrian and owner of a Gladiator training school, is an honorable man and respected by most. But when his beloved wife dies in childbirth, he blames the unknown Christian woman whose advice caused his wife to take a risk that turned deadly. He vows to find the woman and make her pay.
When Brutus and his infant son suffer a terrible accident near the property where Licinia now lives as “Calvia” the two meet and become unlikely friends – but he doesn’t know her secrets.
With faith-based themes of love and loss, grief and forgiveness, Honor Bound is a story that will touch your heart.
If you’re not familiar with this time period, you may appreciate the author’s inclusion of a glossary, a chart of names and relationships, and historical facts key to this story. If you enjoy the history behind historical fiction, don’t miss the author’s website, Life in the Roman Empire, at https://carolashby.com.
Honor Bound is the first book I’ve read in the Light in the Empire series, but it is not the first in the series. All the books are stand-alone titles, although you may meet familiar secondary characters in subsequent stories of their own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this exciting story of second chances set in ancient Rome. It’s fun to learn about a different time and culture in a novel, and the book is filled with interesting historical nuggets. I also enjoyed the author’s notes, especially the heartfelt preamble about overcoming loss.
I highly recommend Honor Bound and the Light in the Empire series for everyone who enjoys historical fiction set in ancient Rome and for those who enjoy biblical fiction. Stories are clean and historically accurate. If you enjoy Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion series, you will love Light in the Empire.
From the Back Cover
Honor had forced him to act. Time would tell if he’d regret it.
Marcus Brutus owns estates, ships, and gladiator schools that increase his fortune daily, but his greatest treasures are his honor and his wife. When she reveals her faith in Jesus before dying after the birth of their son, he’s consumed by hatred for the unnamed Christian woman who led his beloved to abandon the Roman gods, making him lose her in this life and the next.
For fifteen years, Licinia’s father hid her Christian faith. But now her father is dead, and a ruthless political enemy is hunting for anything to destroy her brother. When she becomes the target, her brother sends her to their estate in Germania. But is that far enough to protect her from an evil man who will stop at nothing?
A carriage accident leaves Brutus injured and his best friend near death, and Licinia cares for them. When her brother’s enemies come and he learns she’s the Christian who corrupted his wife, does honor require him to protect her or turn her over as an enemy of Rome? And when Licinia’s heart is drawn toward the pagan man who makes money off death, can she reconcile her growing affection with her love for Christ?
About Carol Ashby
Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love
Carol Ashby has been a professional writer for most of her life, but her articles and books were about lasers and compound semiconductors (the electronics that make cell phones, laser pointers, and LED displays work). She still writes about light, but her Light in the Empire series tells stories of difficult friendships and life-changing decisions in dangerous times, where forgiveness and love open hearts to discover their own faith in Christ. Her fascination with the Roman Empire was born during her first middle-school Latin class. A research career in New Mexico inspires her to get every historical detail right so she can spin stories that make her readers feel like they’re living under the Caesars themselves.
Inspired by the Bible story of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead, author Dana McNeely wondered what became of the boy. She began research for her novel, “Rain,” which tells the story of the three-and-a-half-year drought from his perspective. No stranger to drought, Dana lives in an Arizona oasis with her hubby the constant gardener, two good dogs, an antisocial cat, and migrating butterflies.
In 2021 RAIN became a finalist in The Christy Award (use the registered mark) and was also a finalist in the 2022 ACFW Carol Award® and was also a finalist in the 2022 ACFW Carol Award.
WHIRLWIND, the second novel in the “Whispers on the Wind” series, tells the story of a king’s downfall and a love that transcends war.
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