‘An enchanting novel in which Tim Pears conjures up characters of great subtlety and grace: Olwen, a fierce and courageous warrior seeks to out run fate and the might of the Roman governor with Quintus, her thoughtful, wistful lover. Pears weaves a compelling tale of escape through the magical beauty and mystery of the Silures tribe, their legends and their landscape’ - Alicia Drake, author of I Love You Too Much

‘A remarkable book … history, philosophy, nature writing at its best – and masterful storytelling’ - Debora Harding, author of Dancing with the Octopus

‘The events in this book, as in all the others, take place in the Pearzone – a dimension I myself have never experienced but elements of which I long to be able to share. It can be a place of brutality and heartbreak, yet it offers to those who live there at least glimpses of alternative, less irksome ways of negotiating life. Reading Tim Pears always reminds me that we don’t have to be ignoble’ - Haydn Middleton, author of The Ballad of Syd and Nancy

'Tim Pears writes with precision and tenderness about the countryside and the creatures and people who live there ... A beautiful love story with an incredible sense of place' - The Times

Praise for Tim Pears

‘A literary novelist who beautifully expresses the old ways of England…equally adept at writing action and romance’ - The Times

‘Pears is a wonderful storyteller with a truly remarkable sense of time and place’ - Scotsman

‘Pears could not write an ugly sentence if he tried’ - Mail on Sunday

‘A gifted storyteller, steeped in country lore and the beauty of ordinary events’ - New York Times