The Nero Trilogy

The story begins with a hand curled around another man’s throat. This is Roman justice: Emperor Tiberius first dispatches a traitor—a friend he once trusted with the city—then the man's whole family and all of his friends. It is as if he never existed. Into this fevered forum, a child is born. His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is neither balm nor protection. Rather, it is a liability. Blood is easily spilled or poisoned. So swiftly corrupted. As the aging Tiberius becomes blind to the ignoble end awaiting him, Agrippina sees the future.

Ancient Rome, 50 AD. Agrippina secures her son Lucius’s fate through her marriage to Emperor Claudius. Though more intelligent than her previous husbands—and with a power that is absolute—for a time she bends her husband to her will. Claudius is gentle as a lamb with a rope around its neck. So it is, that Lucius is adopted into the imperial family and becomes Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

The boy Nero lives. His mother Agrippina has married her way to power, tangling the Emperor Claudius in her skirts. The emperor may have a son and heir of his own, but Agrippina sees no obstacles to her ambition. Rome is a path through a marsh, lit by torches. Those who walk it are always one step from disaster–and the road itself is treacherous, slippery with blood. Claudius may have the world at his feet, but he has Agrippina in his bed.

Brought to you by Penguin. The throne is never safe ... especially in Rome AD 60. Rome stands at the height of its power – glittering with wealth, drowning in intrigue. On Palatine Hill, Nero Claudius Caesar rules as Emperor, a young man adored for his beauty and brilliance, feared for his...