Historical Fiction at Its Best

The Roman Mysteries Series by Caroline Lawrence

This is a series of book that is very clever because it uses all the features that a Roman town would have when they go on adventures. It is very fun to read, sometimes dead serious and sometimes it makes me laugh.

There are at least 12 books in the series, starting with The Thieves of Ostia. They tell the story of four young Roman children trying to be detectives. Lupus, the youngest is mute. Then there's Jonathan, who has bad asthma. Flavia is the bossy one, and then Nubia who comes from Africa.

These books show typical ways of living of the Romans so you learn a lot from reading them. For example I learned that if you did something bad you might be forced to become a gladiator and that loads of Jews were taken as slaves.

My star rating: 5/5