Victoria: Born to Be a Warrior

Set in Roman Britain, Victoria is the first novel in a trilogy about a girl of mixed Roman and Iceni parentage. These are troubled times and Victoria, spirited, brave and physically strong, is called upon to use all of her mental and physical resources to defend herself and her family. We first meet Victoria as an inhabitant of Londinium where her father, a Roman soldier, is stationed. However, his efforts to marry her to a much older man impel her to flee to the north, to her mother’s tribe. There her combative skills earn her acclaim but soon she is caught up in the battles between the Romans and tribes people led by Queen Boudicca.

Victoria is something of an early superwoman, surviving by means of her physical prowess and valiant spirit. She has a role model in Queen Boudicca who, at the conclusion, appears to urge Victoria to continue the struggle against the Roman conquerors. Victoria will find a following as an action-packed drama and it will also be valuable as a story located within a violent and terrible conflict which echoes conflicts of the world today. Victoria’s own sense of conflicting loyalties is given voice as is her sense that she can never really belong as a Roman or an Iceni. Hendry’s research seems to be thorough and has created a vivid sense of the period. Her writing is modern in tone and has none of the creakiness of novels which try too hard to create a sense of period through the use of stylised and awkward language. There is a useful glossary at the back which explains possibly unfamiliar words. It’s a pity about the awful cover which may put  potential readers off.