When the Eagle Hunts

Well-paced and intricately plotted, When the Eagle Hunts is a brazen tale of military adventure, political intrigue, and a suicide mission.

Is the unflinching courage of the Roman army a match for the ruthless barbarity of the British tribes?

In the bitter winter of a.d. 44, the Roman troops in Britain are impatiently awaiting the arrival of spring so that the campaign to conquer the island can be renewed. But the native Britons are growing more cunning in their resistance, constantly snapping at the heels of the mighty Roman forces.

When the most brutal of the native tribesmen, the Druids of the Dark Moon, capture the shipwrecked wife and children of General Plautius, quick action is called for. Two volunteers from the crack Second Legion must venture deep into hostile territory in a desperate attempt to rescue the prisoners.

Centurion Macro and his optio, Cato, find themselves slipping out of camp in the dead of night to reach the General's family before they are sacrificed to the Druids' dark gods. They know they are heading towards an almost certain death, and their only hope is that, with sheer courage and ingenuity, they can outwit the most ruthless foes they've ever faced.

Simon Scarrow teaches at City College in Norwich. He has in the past run a Roman history program taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. He lives in Norfolk, and When the Eagle Hunts is his third novel featuring Macro and Cato.