'Stunning... a riveting tale' Alison Weir, bestselling author of Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen 'Brilliant... an enthralling and convincing imagining of Ancient Rome' Harry Sidebottom, bestselling author of the Throne of the Caesars series Rome, 70BC. Roman high society hums with gossip about the sudden, suspicious suicide of a prominent Roman senator. Shortly afterwards, the body of a Vestal Virgin is discovered in the river Tiber. As the authorities turn a strangely blind eye, Hortensia, daughter of Rome's most celebrated lawyer, is moved to investigate a trail of murders that appear to lead straight to the dark heart of the Eternal City. Rebelling against convention, she soon becomes entangled in an increasingly hostile world of intrigue, and when key witnesses are silenced by a ruthless and shadowy mastermind, Hortensia is forced to seek help from an ex-gladiator with secrets of his own. Using her supreme knowledge of the period and drawing from historical accounts of the daughter of famed Roman orator Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Annelise Freisenbruch delivers an atmospheric, meticulously accurate and fast-paced story that will have readers craving more. AUTHOR: Annelise Freisenbruch received her PhD in Classics from Cambridge University. She has worked as a researcher for the BBC and has appeared in documentaries about ancient Rome for PBS and CNN. Her first book, The First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars, was published to much critical acclaim and has been translated into eight languages. Rivals of the Republic is her first novel.