Review
Forrest has the gift of the true story-teller the ability to engage his readers interest from the very first sentence. --Sir Patrick Cormack FSA, MP
Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly. --Doug Jackson, best-selling author of Caligula
... Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand. And three cheers for Quaestor2000 for supporting off-beat historical fiction. --Lynn Guest, Historical Novels Review, May 2009
Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly. --Doug Jackson, best-selling author of Caligula
... Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand. And three cheers for Quaestor2000 for supporting off-beat historical fiction. --Lynn Guest, Historical Novels Review, May 2009
Product Description
Set in southern Spain in the First Century BC, Libertas introduces the people who live in the idyllic mountain community of Munda and the ancient Kemeletoi people who thrive in the surrounding countryside. But the world is ruled by Rome, whose generals have a score to settle - Julius Caesar has force-marched eight crack legions from Italy to subdue the sons of Pompey, and two huge armies will clash in the wide upland valley that stretches before Munda. The final, savage battle of a remorseless struggle for world dominance. A battle that will leave 30,000 dead and a community devastated. But there's an unlikely hero who refuses to give in to the despair and horror of war, who believes his family can be rescued from slavery, who refuses to accept that Roman cruelty and greed has changed his beloved Munda forever. This is a story of bravery, love, invention and hope.
"Forrest has the gift of the true story-teller the ability to engage his readers interest from the very first sentence." - Sir Patrick Cormack FSA, MP
"Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa, Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly." - Doug Jackson, best-selling author of Caligula and Claudius.
"Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand." - Lynn Guest, Historical Novel Society.
"I am in hog heaven with books like Libertas" - Nan Hawthorne, That's All She Read.
"Forrest has the gift of the true story-teller the ability to engage his readers interest from the very first sentence." - Sir Patrick Cormack FSA, MP
"Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa, Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly." - Doug Jackson, best-selling author of Caligula and Claudius.
"Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand." - Lynn Guest, Historical Novel Society.
"I am in hog heaven with books like Libertas" - Nan Hawthorne, That's All She Read.
About the Author
Alistair Forrest decided to be a writer on the day his English teacher ticked him off in front of his classmates for being too descriptive in his essay on Macbeth. Quietly defiant, he embarked on a career in journalism with the South Wales Echo, always endeavouring to report the facts without resorting to the sin of flowery wordiness. His career took him through court and political reporting for several newspapers, specialist PR and magazine editing for the photographic, natural health and cruise ship markets. Two momentous events then enabled him to fulfil his dream. In 2004 he met and married his second wife, Lynda, and the following year they moved to a small mountain community in southern Spain, the very spot where Julius Caesar fought the last great battle of his civil war against the sons of Pompey. Gradually running down his magazine editing workload, Alistair began to write Libertas. The book took almost a year to write, and then months of re-writing following reviews by friends and fellow members of the Arts Council-funded YouWriteOn.com, the website from which it was selected by the publisher Quaestor2000. The English teacher whose rebuke inspired Alistair was the Parliamentarian Sir Patrick Cormack, in the days when he was a schoolmaster. I've sent him a copy, says Alistair. 'I'm hoping I'll get a decent mark this time'.
