The Thieves of Ostia
Caroline Lawrence
Hardcover
(Orion Pub Co, Sept. 30, 2001)
Flavia Gemina is brilliant at finding things, so it's natural for her to solve mysteries. The daughter of a ship's captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD79, she acquires a gang of three friends who help her. There is Jonathan, the Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian) who has just moved in next door; Nubia, the African slave girl Flavia's father buys to save her from a terrible fate; and Lupus, a ragged homeless boy who is mysteriously mute. Together they work out who severed the heads of the watchdogs that guard people's homes, and why he did it. Caroline Lawrence, a first-time writer, is a terrific storyteller who creates a wonderfully vivid picture of daily life in the colourful, bustling port of Ostia while never labouring the historical detail. THE THIEVES OF OSTIA is first and foremost a whodunnit, with lots of excitement and plot twists.
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