Roman Holiday

A Chronicles of St. Mary's Short Story

De: Jodi Taylor

Narrado por: Zara Ramm

A Chronicles of St Mary's short story that is sure to entertain. If you love Jasper Fforde or Ben Aaronovitch, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor.

Question: What sort of idiot installs his mistress in his wife's house? Especially when that mistress is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, Queen of Egypt and the most notorious woman of her time?

Answer: Julius Caesar—poised to become King of Rome. Or as good as.

Question: At this potentially sensitive point in your political manoeuvrings, who are the last people you'd want crashing through the door, observing, recording, documenting ...?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Roman Holiday—an epic, stand alone tale set in Ancient Rome, 44 BC, featuring, in no particular order: an attempted murder, stampeding bullocks, Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, a bowl of poisonous snakes, a smallish riot, Julius Caesar and Mr Markham's wayward bosoms.

©2019 Jodi Taylor (P)2025 Headline Publishing Group Limited

Fun, snarky, time travel!

Note: Although this is Book 3.5 in the series, it works fine as a stand alone.

The folks of St. Mary’s are time travelers. They have rules and a whole costume department and some pretty snazzy tech, along with whole sheets of language cheats. The mission for this book is one to merely observe. They are sent back to 44BC Rome. Julius Caesar has installed his mistress Cleopatra in his wife’s house. Yeah. The dude has big brass ones.

This was my first Jodi Taylor book ever and it will definitely not be my last. The mix of history, cool tech, and humor had me hooked. I kept alternating between chuckling and, when surprised, snorting hot tea through my nose. I switched to cool water after the second time. The humor was often sharp and pointed (such as calling out Caesar on the wisdom of where to install his mistress when in Rome) – just my style of humor!

Also, our time travelers are lead by an older female, which makes her perfect for this mission as she can totally play the respectable wealthy matron. Plenty of unforeseen circumstances occur, and the proper mayhem follows.

I’ll be catching up on this series for sure!

The Narration: Zara Ramm was a great voice for the lead female in this book. She had the right mix of humor and experienced self-assuredness that really brought this character to life. She also had distinct and believable voices for the other female and male characters.

fantastic book!! I love the characters!

I love the life and people in these books! Any time I can be in their world I am happy! Makes me happy!

Unexpectedly hilarious

Mrs. Taylor's humor always catches me off guard and Roman Holiday did not disappoint. She has an intelligent wit that comes out in her writing. I find that very refreshing in today's world of pop fiction.

So Funny!

A very witty story about our St. Mary's historians going back to Rome to see Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. As usual, things do not go quite as planned. Jodi Taylor's writing is laugh out loud funny and Zara Ramm is a spot on fantastic narrator. She has perfect timing for performing the humor of the story. Taylor has an amazing imagination. This is a great short story.

Another romp with the time-traveling historians

No St. Mary's assignment goes the way it's supposed to. Never.

The historians of St. Mary's investigate major historical events in contemporary time (don't call it "time travel.") This time the assignment is really simple, and very popular; they'll be observing Rome when Caesar has moved Cleopatra into his home in Rome.

The same home he shares with Calpurnia.

They're just going to observe conditions. It's a peaceful day. What could possibly go wrong?

But this is the St. Mary's crew. Max, Peterson, and their colleagues always have way more excitement than they're supposed to.

It's a lot of fun. I particularly like Taylor's narrative voice and Ramm's narration. Recommended.

This book was free on Audible.