Eeeeeeeee!
Colleen McCullough has a new novel in the "Masters of Rome" series! I thought it was all done, and since her eyesight is failing, I hardly dared to expect her to continue the series -- but she has!
For those not in the know, these are the best historical novels ever, covering the entire history of the Roman Republic in vivid, glorious detail, with a proper bibiliography and clearly outlining the parts that are fictionalised from the historical material. I owe all my interest in reading historical fiction (and dabbling in writing it) to these books. And everything I know about Rome, I know first and foremost thanks to Colleen McCullough and her amazing scholarship.
In the process of discovering this, I also found out that she is a neuroscientist, and founded the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore hospital in Sydney, and did 10 years of research before moving into writing. And all that before the 1970s! I am officially inspired.
Oh, and I've met her -- alas before I'd read her books -- while I was working at the Sydney Writers' Festival. But all I got to do was mind her suitcase. :D
For those not in the know, these are the best historical novels ever, covering the entire history of the Roman Republic in vivid, glorious detail, with a proper bibiliography and clearly outlining the parts that are fictionalised from the historical material. I owe all my interest in reading historical fiction (and dabbling in writing it) to these books. And everything I know about Rome, I know first and foremost thanks to Colleen McCullough and her amazing scholarship.
In the process of discovering this, I also found out that she is a neuroscientist, and founded the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore hospital in Sydney, and did 10 years of research before moving into writing. And all that before the 1970s! I am officially inspired.
Oh, and I've met her -- alas before I'd read her books -- while I was working at the Sydney Writers' Festival. But all I got to do was mind her suitcase. :D