The Horse Who Would Be Emperor

If someone had told me they wanted to write a book about the last days of the Roman emperor Caligula’s life and have it narrated it by three different characters, one of whom would be his horse Incitatus, I’d have said it they couldn’t do it. 

Well, Katherine Roberts has done it. And it works. 

Wonderfully.

Marcus and Livia, the two young human narrators, provide the driving force to the plot. It’s their adventures in and around the scheme to assassinate Caligula that keep you turning the pages. But it’s Incitatus - the spoilt, ludicrously pampered stallion - who eats oats laced with gold flakes – that really makes the story hum. He’s both irritating in his selfish, petulant demands, but at the same time sympathetic with his view of the world in which he lives. Through his eyes ancient Rome, gladiatorial games and the wild, mad actions of a crazy emperor come leaping off the page. This is a vivid historical adventure that’s genuinely exciting.

And it has a fantastic cover!