Brides of Rome: A Novel of the Vestal Virgins (Book One in The Vesta Shadows trilogy, Revised Edition)

The Vestal Virgins, venerated priestesses of the goddess Vesta, have for centuries upheld their sacred duty to Rome-to ensure the Eternal Flame burning in the goddess's temple never goes out. For while it burns, the Eternal City cannot fall.

It is 45 BCE. Julius Caesar is dictator of Rome. Cleopatra is his vassal queen of Egypt. And the Vestal Virgin Pomponia Occia, chosen for the Vestal order by Caesar himself, finds herself swept up in the battles and bedroom politics of Rome's ruling class.

Not only is Caesar a blade away from his destiny, but if anyone is to learn the secret Pomponia holds in her heart, she will suffer the horrific fate of a Vestal who breaks her vow of chastity: burial alive in the "Evil Field."

As civil war wages and she's both befriended and antagonized by Rome's elites - including Livia, the grasping wife of the new Caesar - Pomponia's public duty and private affection will collide to steer not just the course of the Vestal order and her own life, but the course of history too.

Brides of Rome is book one in The Vesta Shadows, an epic trilogy that must be read by candlelight. It is part of the larger seven-novel world created by author Debra May Macleod, novels that chronicle the Vestal order in Rome from its founding in the 8th century BCE to its banishment in the 4th century CE.

Visit the author's site at AllThingsVesta.com | DebraMayMacleod.com for fascinating content on ancient Rome and the Vestal Virgins.