Under the Eagle

Overview: Simon Scarrow is a UK-based author, born in Nigeria and now based in Norfolk. He completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia[1] after working at the Inland Revenue, and then went into teaching as a lecturer, firstly at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, then at City College Norwich. Tough, brutal and unforgiving. That's how new recruit Cato isfinding life in the Roman Second Legion. He may have contacts in high places, but he could really use a friend agmonst his fellow soldiers right now. He's been promoted above his comrades at the order of the Emperor and is deeply resented by the other men. It's not just against the local hordes that he needs to prove himself. But he quickly earns the respect of enturion, Macro, a battle-hardened vetran as rough and ready as Cato is quick-witted and well-educated. They are poles apart, but soon realise they have lot to learn from one another. On a campaign to Britannia - a land of uttter barbarity - an enduring friendship begins. But as they undertake a special mission to thwart a conspiracy against the Emperor they rapidly find themselves in a desperate fight to survive ... -- back cover It is AD 42, and Quintus Licinius Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new recruit to the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. If adjusting to the rigours of military life isn't difficult enough for the bookish young man, he also has to contend with the disgust of his colleagues when, because of his imperial connections, he is appointed a rank above them. As second-in-command to Macro, the fearless, battle-scarred centurion who leads them, Cato has more to prove than most in the adventures that lie ahead. Then the men discover that the army's next campaign will take them to a land of unparalleled barbarity - Britain. After the long march west, Cato and Macro undertake a special mission that will thrust them headlong into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor himself... In the tradition of Bernard Cornwell's SHARPE series, a novel of millitary adventure and reckless heroism with the Roman legions in 43AD- 'I really don't need this kind of competition... It's a great read' Bernard Cornwell