Persona Non Grata, by Ruth Downie

Here is a murder mystery set in the ancient Roman empire that brings Gaius home from his post as a physician with the army in Britain where he lives with the barbarian, Tilla. He bought Tilla as a slave but twice asks her to marry him. At first she refused. Then she accompanies him to his villa in Italy after he has been summoned home by an urgent letter purporting to come from his younger brother. All the difficulties of any cross-cultural romance come up in this story. His family doesn't know about Tilla until she arrives. The gift she worked so hard on for them is culturally repulsive. Fortunately, she figured that out before she gave it. The new Christian cult has everyone concerned and confused but Tilla begins to experiment with prayer to the new god you address as father and who does not expect sacrifices. I found her mixed up application of what she deduced from one Christian meeting amusing and totally believable. Downie does a great job layering multiple intersecting plot lines that resolve satisfactorily at the end. The story engaged me from beginning to end. I picked the book up for fun and found it touches many of the same themes I work with in my own writing. The research she did about medical practices, poisons, and the life behind the scenes of a gladiator is impressive. She wove it into the story so that the whole piece was both believable and fascinating.





Downie, Ruth. Persona Non Grata. c. 2009. Bloomsbury