Boudica: Dreaming The Eagle (Boudica 1) [Paperback]

In AD 60, Boudica, war leader of the Eceni, led her people in a final bloody revolt against the occupying armies of Rome. It was the culmination of nearly twenty years of resistance against an occupying force that sought to crush a vibrant, complex civilization and replace it with the laws, taxes and slavery of the Roman Empire.

Gloriously imagined, Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle recreates the beginnings of a story so powerful its impact has survived through the ages, recounting the journey to adulthood of Breaca, who at twelve kills her first warrior, and her sensitive, skilful half-brother Bán, who carries with him a vision of the future that haunts his waking hours.

In the company of a supreme storyteller, the reader is plunged into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Romans came: a twilight world of Dreamers and the magic of the gods; a world where horses and dogs and the landscape itself become characters in their own right; where warriors fight for honour as much as victory. Above all, it is a world of passion and courage and spectacular, heart-felt heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.

Manda Scott's Boudica will tell the extraordinary, resounding story of Britain's first and greatest warrior queen, the woman who remains one of the great female icons - to read it is to discover our history, to learn about ourselves and our heritage.

At twelve, she killed her first warrior. At twenty one, she defended her land against an invasion by the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. At forty, she led her people in a bloody revolt - and became a legend.

Set in Britain before the Romans came, Manda Scott's thrillingly imagined novel brings the brutal world of druids, dreamers, warriors and their gods to vivid life - the opening chapter in a story of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds...

is a veterinary surgeon, writer and climber. Born and educated in Scotland, she now lives in Suffolk with two lurchers and too many cats. Known primarily as a crime writer, her first novel, Hen's Teeth was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Her subsequent novels are Night Mares, Stronger than Death and No Good Deed, for which she was hailed by the Times as 'one of Britain's most important crime writers'.

Dreaming the Eagle, the first book in the Boudica series, is also available in Bantam paperback