Paul Waters was educated in England, but his true learning began at seventeen when he ran away to sea. His subsequent two years traveling the globe on a tramp steamer ignited a profound fascination with the classical worlds of Greece and Rome, a passion sparked by reading Herodotus in the Indian Ocean. This lifelong interest led him to study Classics at University College London. Having lived and worked internationally, Waters now resides in Cambridge, England, his experiences shaping a unique perspective that likely informs his writing.
The story revolves around two unlikely companions, Paul and Simon, who initially have a strained relationship. After a few drinks, they unexpectedly decide to embark on the daunting 900-mile cycling challenge from Land's End to John o' Groats, despite being novice cyclists. Their journey promises to be filled with humor, personal growth, and the evolution of their friendship as they tackle the physical and emotional hurdles of the adventure together.
A consuming story of love, loss and redemption set in the classical world of Rome and Greece, Of Merchants & Heroes is the story of a young man's pursuit of his father's murderer and and of the values and qualities he develops that will make him a man . . . a man capable of a deep, noble and enduring love. At the end of the third century BC, as Republican Rome's long war with Carthage was at last drawing to a close, it was already threatened by a new enemy, Philip, the tyrant king of Macedon in the east. Thus begins Rome's long involvement with Greek civilization, from which it is to learn so much . . . Into this turbulent world emerges our Roman hero, Marcus, whose father is brutally murdered by pirates on a journey from Italy to Corfu on a visit to his uncle. Fate takes him to some of the great cities of the Greco-Roman world at a time of major turbulence, where he learns much and finds love unexpectedly. This is a remarkable, beautifully written debut that explores political and philosophical questions that are timeless – democracy and tyranny, war and self-defence, right and duty – as well as questions of love, loyalty and betrayal.
Drusus ist vierzehn, als sein Vater unter dem neuen Kaiser Constans einer Intrige zum Opfer fällt. Religiöse Fanatiker reißen den Familienbesitz an sich. Sein geliebter Lehrer stirbt. Drusus steht vor dem Nichts. Zudem ist er ein Anhänger der alten römischen Religion, während überall das Christentum auf dem Vormarsch ist. Mitten in bürgerkriegsähnlichen Unruhen muss Drusus sich entscheiden, wem er vertrauen kann, wen er lieben darf und gegen wen er kämpfen muss. Ein bemerkenswerter, brillant geschriebener Roman in der Tradition von Mary Renault und Robert Ranke-Graves.
