Boudica was one of Britain’s greatest warriors. Most of what I said about her is true according to archaeology and history (take this with a grain of salt—scholars do their best to learn the truth about the past, but some of it is always shrouded in fog). One place that I fudged a bit was the fate of her daughters. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, when the Romans attacked Boudica’s kingdom following the death of her husband Prasutagus, they whipped Boudica and raped her daughters. This does not happen to her daughters in Braving Fate. Instead, I had the Romans killed them outright. I made this decision because it suited the story better. Also, I invented the names of her daughters, as they were not recorded by history. Aela and Calea, however, are Celtic names.
Boudica waged a year-long campaign across Britain. She united several Celtic kingdoms and succeeded in destroying several Roman settlements. She nearly evicted the Romans. The fate of her campaign, and of the Romans’ endeavors in Britain, relied upon the final battle mentioned in this book. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it, she failed and died shortly thereafter.
There are two theories about Boudica’s death. Tacitus states that she poisoned herself, while the Roman historian Cassius Dio writes that she died of illness. Suicide suited the Boudica of Braving Fate. Would her fate have been as I described it had she been captured by the Romans? I wouldn’t be surprised, as I borrowed that fate from France’s Celtic hero Vercingetorix.
As for her enemy, Gaius Seutonius Paullinus? He actually survived the battle. However, he didn’t have a son that he brought onto the battlefield with him. We can also assume that he didn’t do any of the crazy stuff that I said he did in Erebus.
Cadan Trinovante is not a historic figure. However, the Celtic Trinovante kingdom was located to the south of the Iceni kingdom and was one of the kingdoms that joined Boudica in her revolt. Cadan is a Celtic name, and Cadan has carried his kingdom’s name as his surname. His village, Camulodunum, was real and was destroyed by the Romans. In an interesting twist of fate that did not make it into the book, the Boudica of history attacked the newly built Roman fort at Camulodunum during her year-long attack of Roman forts.
I had the hardest time deciding on a place to spur Diana’s memory about her past. I settled on Verulamium, which was a Roman fort during Boudica’s time and is located near Watling Street, one place that historians believe may have been the location of her final battle. Boudica destroyed this Roman settlement while attempting to evict the Romans from Britain, though Diana doesn’t yet make the connection with Boudica when she sees Verulamium because she doesn’t think she could possibly be one of Britain’s most famous warriors.
Finally, Andrasta and the Celtic gods of Otherworld. Andrasta was Boudica’s patron goddess and the Icenic goddess of victory. She is one of hundreds of Celtic gods from dozens of kingdoms and tribes. However, the Celts weren’t one people in one place at one time. Rather, they were a culture that originated in central Europe and spread out to encompass most of Europe and the British Isles during the first millennium B.C. They spoke many languages and worshiped many gods, but were linked by their material culture and advanced use of metalwork. They were known to the Romans and the Greeks as great warriors.
Soulceress
Soulceress, Book 2 in the Mythean Arcana Series
A man desperate to save his soul and a woman forced to live as a renegade must team up to fight a deadly battle, one in which choices will be made and secrets revealed that could tear them apart.
http://www.amazon.com/Soulceress-Mythean-Arcana-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00O4CPOUQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
About the Author
Before becoming a romance novelist, Linsey Hall was a nautical archaeologist who studied shipwrecks from Hawaii and the Yukon to the UK and the Mediterranean. She credits the historical romances of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s with her love of history and her career as an archaeologist. After a decade of tromping around the globe in search of old bits of stuff that people left lying about, she settled down and started penning her own romance novels. Her debut series, the Mythean Arcana, draws upon her love of history and the paranormal elements that she can’t help but include.
www.LinseyHall.com