Books with title Assassins of Rome, The

It is A.D. 79. In Ostia, near Rome, Flavia Gemina and her three friends, Nubia, Lupus, and Jonathan, are celebrating Jonathan's birthday. Then a visitor from the past arrives to see Jonathan's father. The next day, the visitor has disappeared, and so has Jonathan. When the three friends discover that Jonathan has gone on a secret mission to Rome, they immediately follow him. Their journey takes them to the Golden House of the Emperor Nero, where a deadly assassin is at work, and brings them face-to-face with the terrible destruction of Jerusalem.

Sarajevo, 1914. A gunshot is about to throw the world into chaos.Jack Christie knows it is going to happen.A short time ago, Jack was an average teenager spending time at school or with his best friend, Angus, playing video games. But when the boys accidentally discover a secret time-travel lab that Jack’s estranged father built, they are catapulted back to the start of the First World War.Dodging tanks, bombs and assassins, Jack arrives at the moment Gavrilo Princip aims his gun at Archduke Ferdinand, the moment that will trigger World War One. Jack needs to make a decision: does he stop the assassination and prevent the bloodiest war the world had seen, or does he allow history to take its course? The future of mankind is in Jack's hands.Day of the Assassins is a classic adventure story, based on true events, that readers of all ages will enjoy.Praise for Johnny O’Brien‘Johnny O’Brien’s original and consistently exciting novel makes sure that history truly comes alive in an unforgettable way.’ – The Independent‘A terrific debut. The characters of Jack Christie and Angus are brilliantly drawn...you’ll visualise the scenes and almost smell them as Jack tries to make sense of his new world. A very satisfying, sometimes shocking, but ultimately uplifting read.’ – loverreading.co.uk‘If you're still wondering, may I say that if ever there was a book to take a chance on, this is it. Expect it to win awards, it's that good.’ – Amazon reviewerJohnny O'Brien was born in Edinburgh and studied history at Cambridge University. He got the idea for The Jack Christie Adventures when he came across his grandfather's medals from World War I. His debut and first book in the series, Day of the Assassins was long-listed for the 2010 Branford Boase Award and for the Book Trust's Booked Up 2010 programme. It was also shortlisted for the Children's Quills, a new award for historical fiction for children administered through the Historical Association. Johnny lives in Surrey, England. Visit www.johnnyobrien.co.uk for more information.

September, AD 79. Friends have gathered to celebrate Jonathan's birthday. All are surprised when a mysterious visitor turns up to see Jonathan's father. On the following day, they are even more surprised when both the visitor and Jonathan have disappeared. Flavia Gemina, Nubia, and Lupus quickly realize that Jonathan has gone on a secret quest to Rome and they are determined to find him.

The voice of an extraordinary new fantasist sings out strong and true in this epic and magical tale of intrigue, forbidden love, and shocking betrayal in a wondrous, barbaric realm where beauty is a weapon . . . and treachery an art.The river god had spared the infant girl the villagers found drifting on a boat with a dead man and dying woman, so the superstitious townsfolk believed it would be a sacrilege to let the child die as well. The name Lale, meaning "lucky," is the last good thing they give her, and she grows up abused, unloved, and resented -- until, at age eleven, she comes to the attention of Makina Seval, "Mother Midnight," the absolute ruler of the Despotate of Tamurin. Enrolled in Three Springs, the Despotana's special school for orphaned and unwanted girls, young Lale finally finds what she has always coveted: respect, affection, community . . . a home.But Three Springs is an institution of dark and shadowy purpose, a place where the wards of Mother Midnight are trained to become perfect spies and cold-blooded, ruthlessly efficient killers. And Lale has learned her lessons well. At age twenty, she stands poised to play her role in the Despotana's grandest scheme: vengeance.Years earlier Makina Seval's entire family -- including her infant son, the rightful heir to the Bethiyan throne -- was brutally slain through the plots of a devious chancellor, who then raised up a young usurper to be the Sun Lord. Now it is Lale's duty to insinuate her way into the court -- and the bed -- of that same usurper, Terem Rathai, no longer a child but a powerful and dangerous foe. And after she has earned Terem's trust, Lale is to kill him.Bound by the blackest sorcery to remain loyal to her beloved Mother, Lale will suffer nightmarish torment -- even death -- if she fails. But once enmeshed in the web of deceit and treachery that has been spun around her, the young assassin begins to doubt the righteousness of her sworn mission. For not only will the Despotana's grand design bring doom upon the world itself, there hangs over Lale yet another appalling catastrophe -- one that threatens all that she is, all she has ever believed.Lale has fallen in love with the man she must destroy. . . .

Luna doesn't know how she will live up to destiny. As one of the first daughters of the five alphas, she's been prophesied to rescue their realm from untold evil. But when the initial strike against them leaves her with no memory of her attacker, she's left pursuing a slender magical clue.Joining forces with her fated sisterhood, she works to find an enemy who is always one step ahead. The damaging truth they will uncover will expose a web of betrayals and dirty secrets that threaten to destroy everything she holds dear.