Welcome…
January 1, 2010…and thank you for visiting.
I’m the author of three mysteries featuring Roman Army medic and reluctant sleuth, Gaius Petreius Ruso. His third adventure was published by Penguin in April – there’s a shot of the cover on the right – whereupon the News of the World announced that, ‘It looks set to complete a hat-trick of hits for Downie.’ Let’s hope they’re right.
To find out more about the books (including why they all have two titles), click here. Events are listed on this page, but if we can’t meet in person, you can always contact me here. This is where you can find out that an author’s life is not as exciting as that of her characters, and below are the latest musings on the blog:
Hi Ruth,
What fun that you have a blog/website. I’ve read both your books, waiting months and months for the second one to be published in the US. Your story about becoming a published author is so exciting, speaking as a yet-to-be-published mystery writer. I’m looking forward to your next book and I HOPE it will be published in the US with a lot less lag time from the UK publication date!
Do you belong to a writing group or do you work totally independently?
Best,
Susan
Hi Susan,
Thanks for getting in touch. I’m currently wishing I could slide through time and emerge at the point where Book 3 is published, instead of slogging through the editorial changes… But you’ll be pleased to hear that UK and US publishers are hoping to co-ordinate dates for the next one.
Since you ask – I’m in two very informal writing groups, which have been a vital source of friendship, encouragement and education over the years. Then of course there’s feedback from agents and editors. The ‘lone writer in the garret’ scenario definitely isn’t me!
I wish you both luck and stamina with your own writing. Mysteries are a real challenge to put together (it always amazes me that anyone can make sense out of mine) but thankfully it’s a genre that is, as you see, welcoming to new writers.
Cheers,
Ruth
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Productive New Year from Harriman, NY, USA!
Just finished “Medicus,” Ruth; bravo!
AND… since I found the novel on the “new” fiction book shelf of my local library and hadn’t noticed the copyright (2006), now that I’m here at your website thanking you for writing “Medicus,” I can also thank you – in advance of and in anticipation of reading – for “Terra Incognita” and “Ruso and the Demented Doctor.”
Best regards,
BILL
…and a very happy New Year to you too, Bill! It’s kind of you to get in touch. Also very decent of the Harriman library staff to put the book where you’d notice it (even if it should have been somewhere else!) They shouldn’t have any trouble tracking down a copy of ‘Terra Incognita’ for you – hope you enjoy it.
Ruso’s third escapade should be published in July on both sides of the pond. It’ll be called ‘Persona non Grata’ in the US – the first time ever that the publishers have accepted one of my suggestion for a title. Mind you, some of my previous offerings have been real stinkers…
Cheers,
Ruth
thank you for such literate, historically accurate writing. ruso is a strong, decent guy. love albanus, and hope that he continues to be a part of the series. but curious about the curious relationship between ruso and tilla. does he experience any kind of cognitive dissonance? cannot wait for ‘Persona non Grata.’
Hi Linda,
Cognitive dissonance… hm, good question! Not sure I know too much about this or that I dare to probe too deeply, but here goes.
Clearly there’s a huge gap between what the Roman Army believes about the natives and what Ruso begins to learn from Tilla. But it’s not clearcut: sometimes the natives do behave in disappointingly stereotypical ways and Ruso’s left feeling… well, let down, I suppose. Caught in the middle. Just plain cross.
There’s also a void between what Tilla believes to be true and what Ruso knows to be logical and/or ethical. What he finds really tricky is that she can frequently ‘prove’ that she’s right – for example she’s convinced she can demonstrate the power of curses. It’s a tension he constantly tries – and fails – to resolve, and I do wonder whether he’s secretly jealous of her certainty and her ability to ignore logic. I think that’s one of the reasons he finds her simultaneously exasperating and attractive, and why I find them fun to write about.
You’ll have deduced from the above that I don’t know what I’m talking about! Anyway, so glad you like the books and especially Albanus, of whom I’m very fond. I’m thinking of bringing him back in book 4…
hi ruth–
thanks for your thoughtful response, and PLEASE bring albanus back in book 4. he is fussy enough (!), innocent enough, smart enough, kind enough, and absolutely loyal. excellent points about ruso and tilla. i was also thinking about the conflicts he might feel about a person he must legally treat as a slave, (i.e. beatings, arrests) but a person to whom he is becoming emotionally attached. i’ve read a little bit about romanized britain, and to my [marginally informed] mind, tilla seems a beautiful fit for her place and time. thank you again for a wonderful series.
I’m enjoying your work, and hope you keep on, and get a terrific movie deal, and get fabulously rich!
May Fortuna Attend!!
My son is a classics scholar working on Roman army training of officers, Imperial grand strategy at the frontier, and time permitting, on Ovid. As an old semi-retired guy I mainly look into odd little technical corners like candle-making, rope-making, warehousing and goods transport in Ostia, and also magic-religion-healing. Should you need curses and spells, I’ll give you a special discount.
I’m heading off to Greece in April to pay my respects to Asklepios at Epidaurus– not unlike Ruso, I’m an Epicurean more than willing to hedge my bets with a tip of the hat to the gods when the case gets serious.
You know, it’s so interesting that the ancients are of course just like us in so many ways (being human), and in others so very alien. The mental life of a people for whom gods and nymphs and magic and were unquestioned realities is endlessly fascinating.
Best of luck & prosperity for 2009!
Vale.
Hi Linda,
Yep, unless the editors really hate the idea (and why should they?) Albanus is back in Book 4! Hooray!
The slavery thing is an odd one – it’s hard to imagine a world where slavery isn’t viewed as morally wrong, isn’t it? The only moral issue I’ve been aware of so far in the literature concerns how decently you treat your slaves. (Or if you’re a slave, how diligently you do your job.) Also it wasn’t unusual for slaves to be freed after a time in service, and some of them were given highly responsible jobs and became stonkingly rich.
The whole master/slave relationship must have been a complicated business and the Romans seem to have kept tweaking the law over the years to try and regulate it. Given the proximity in which households must have lived, I guess it’s not surprising that we have records of (presumably decent) owners freeing their slaves in order to marry them.
As Skip says, the ancients were so much like us in so many ways, and in others so very alien…
Skip, thanks for getting in touch and for the good wishes!
Interesting how you and your son epitomise the range of fascinations people feel for the ancient world – all the way from Imperial policy to the practicalities of candle-making. I’d imagine the latter could lead to some fun experiments in the kitchen?
The more I find out, the more respect I have for people who had mastered crafts we’ve long since handed over to distant experts and machinery. (I know it’s possible to dye things blue with woad, but my efforts were hopeless. The plants looked pretty in the garden, though.)
Your point about the ancients’ beliefs in gods and nymphs and magic leads me to wonder: what are the delusions of our own age to which we’re all blind, but which will baffle and amuse our descendants?
Have a wonderful time in Greece!
The delusions of our own age to which we’re all blind—this is a very interesting question, unfortunately unanswerable in the short term, we can only speculate.
I like to think our descendants will be amazed that so many of us still believe in gods (or, at least, God) and the competence of politicians to rule over us; they may also be amazed at how we coped with our short lifespan and vulnerability to many diseases. In all these areas we haven’t really advanced very much since Ruso’s time.
I’d say the modern blindspot is faith in science and reason, especially in our ability as biological entities– animals, to be blunt aboiut it– to ever be really rational and logical. Free will, memory, our beliefs, our opinons about why we or others do things: all are hopelessly compromised by the fact that the processing unit is a mass of soggy, fatty, grey stuff between our ears. Religion and philosophy have expended a great deal of energy explaining why we humans are seperate from and above the biological world: but that effort was both wasted and a dangerous conceit.
So we are creatures. We are not the “undying ones” on Olympus, nor the mythological all-knowing God of the Christians, nor the sadly fictional self-conscious supercomputer HAL.
Our creaturliness is what the blind spot of science and reason hides from our view.
Just my two oboli.
Interesting! And as creatures we’re perhaps more vulnerable and more interdependent than we care to acknowledge.
Shifting sideways slightly, it occurs to me that my cat must have a mental map of how the world functions which he believes to be totally valid and universally true. But already of course I’m starting to use the language of reason, which doesn’t figure in his world at all…
I thoroughly enjoyed your book, Terra Incognita, on audio CD from my local library. Then I went out and bought Medicus. This is not the first time I have enjoyed book two before book one. Thank you for providing me with some very enjoyable reading — I particularly like the interactions between Ruso and Tilla and the unique angle of military medicine. Cheers. Mike
Thanks, Mike! That’s really good to know. I had wondered whether, if you came across the second book first, it would spoil the first one because you’d know roughly how things would turn out. So it’s great to hear that you found they worked the other way round.
As an aside, what a wonderful thing blogging software is. Being able to communicate so easily with people who’ve read the books is a real pleasure.
Just finished Medicus — reading the books out of order was not a problem for me — in fact it was quite entertaining as it was like having gotten to know someone and then hearing a tale from his past. I am looking forward to the release of the third book in the U.S. this year. I should mention that I am a retired military health care administrator — your depiction of a penny pinching administrator is definitely reality.
Mike, now I know what you used to do for a living I’m mightily relieved that you didn’t take Medicus as an insult to all healthcare administrators!
Priscus was such a joy to write. Some of his squabbles with Ruso reflect current debates in the Health Service, but I fear in his worst moments he’s simply voicing all the dreadful things I found myself wanting to say when I worked in Local Government finance. (Definitely not my finest moment.)
I’m back again to drop you a note. I’ve started Persona Non Grata and am just as hooked by this story as the last two. I do hope you are working on a fourth book in this series. I enjoy the plots of your books, but even more the misunderstandings and different perspectives Ruso and Tila have along the way. Your handling of the misunderstandings derived from language and cultural differences is authentic from my personal experience. All the best. Mike
Hi Mike – yes, book 4 is under way. Not as fast as it should have been, so much to my relief the publishers have extended the deadline to Christmas. Interesting that you’ve picked up on the cultural differences theme, which is something that’s very much to the front of my mind now that we’ve been expanding our mental horizons around the Far East. (That’s ‘we’ as in ‘the family’: I haven’t taken to speaking like the Queen). Did you have experience of this sort of thing with the military?
Hi Ruth,
I totally enjoyed listening to Medicus and Terra Incognita and have to say that the choice of Simon Vance as the narrator was perfect because he brings a sense of realism to the characters that truly does justice to the richness of your writing, and it is killing me to have to wait for the third installment and I only hope that Simon Vance will again narrate.
I would lastly just like to say thank you for your hard work and hope that you write a myriad of books that are of the calibre you have already achieved.
Hi David,
Thanks very much for the kind comments, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the audio.
I know Simon Vance went to a deal of trouble to get things right – we had an entertaining email exchange over the pronounciation of ‘Darlughdacha’! To be honest I had no more idea than Ruso of how it should sound. Luckily my brother works in an Irish university where they have people who know about this sort of thing.
I’m not sure yet what’s happening about the audio for Book 3 but will post it on the blog when there’s some news.
I am sure he was glad of the help you gave with Darlughdacha as phonetic renouncing would not help!
It would be very interesting to see a list of the alternative names that was put forward for the first 3 books, and also what are you reading at the moment ?
You’ll get an edited version only, David – I’m too embarrassed by most of my terrible titles to admit to them!
For the first one the agent thought ‘Pax’ sounded like science fiction. ‘Into the Shadows’ didn’t fit the book… The American publishers suggesting finding a whimsical title but didn’t like the Dancing Girls (which was the brainwave of the British editor). So they headed off in the direction of Latin – and now we have to figure out two titles for every book.
I’m hoping ‘Ruso, Death and Taxes’ may get the thumbs-up for the 4th in the UK, but on reflection that may turn out to be a stinker too.
As for reading – at the moment I’ve just started ‘Buried too Deep’ by Jane Finnis. I’m thoroughly enjoying her Roman/British innkeeper Aurelia – wise, warm and witty. Jane and I are on the same panel at Crimefest in May, which should be fun.
What are you reading?
Interesting that you’re in touch with Jane Finnis. Before coming to your own books, I’ve read Ancient Roman stories by Kipling, Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor, Jane Finnis, and others besides. Each author has a somewhat different style. Ruso #1 seems to me closest in approach to The Silver Pigs (Falco #1), which is still my favourite of the Davis books although I have most of them. But as the author you will feel most keenly the uniqueness of your own work and probably reject as pointless the idea of comparing apples with oranges. It’s interesting and unusual in this kind of book that Ruso is not an investigator of crime by profession, nor even by avocation; he seems reluctantly drawn into it by the force of events.
Well they do say you should write the sort of book you enjoy reading! Oddly enough it never occurred to me to make Ruso a detective – a doctor seemed like the sort of chap who could get into interesting dilemmas without (usually) being required to kill anybody.
Have you tried any Roman military adventures? Simon Scarrow, Harry Sidebottom et al?
No, I haven’t tried the Roman military adventures you mention; in fact, hadn’t heard of them. Not sure if they’d be my kind of thing. I’m replying to my own message because there’s no Reply button on yours…
There isn’t? Sorry. Another of the mysteries of computing I’m afraid…
I have to admit that I think that the latin names seem to suit best, but I can see that this may be off putting to some people.
As for what I am reading ? (listing) well I just finished Conn Iggulden’s – The Gates of Rome which I have to say was a very good read and I hope at some point to read the rest of the series, and now I have just started book seven in the Hollows series which is called White Witch, Black Curse and it is fantastic and I hightly reccomend them especially if your a fan of fantasy. After this I hope to read GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS! by Harry Turtledove purely because it is another story based on Rome! & as a bonus is also read by Simon Vance!
Ah, Conn Iggulden’s great, isn’t he? Thanks for the Hollows recommendation. I bet you’d enjoy Harry Sidebottom’s ‘Warrior of Rome’ series too if/when it gets to the US.
Just spotted my speilling mistake! I intended to write listening! Thanks for the suggestion of Harry Sidebottom’s ‘Warrior of Rome’ and I’m from Nottingham in the east Midlands (Sunny old England!)
Aha! I was fooled by your having listened to the Simon Vance audios, which are the American editions (tho’ he isn’t). That’ll teach me to make assumptions!
I got them from Amazon UK and thought that it might be the case that they was the US version due to their listings.
Hi Ruth,
I just wanted to let you know that I am a librarian and am leading a book discussion at my library on Medicus on Monday, April 13. I think the group is going to have a good time discussing your book. Do you have any insights into some topics we should pursue further?
Thanks so much!
Sarah
ps – I was excited to learn about book number 3 – I will put it on order at my library!
Hi Sarah,
I feel honoured, and hope you and the group find enough in the book for a good discussion. As for topics… crumbs, that’s tricky. I’ve just skimmed back over the comments above and people have raised some interesting issues.
a) Slavery is one – different in the Roman world to slavery in more recent times, but still the ownership of one person by another, and we don’t have any evidence for an ‘abolition movement’ back then. Religion is another – ‘the mental life of people for whom gods and nymphs and magic were unquestioned realities’, to quote from a comment above.
Do you think these themes resonate for modern readers? What will surprise or shock future generations about our own society?
b) ‘What a lot of things a man doesn’t need.’ (or a woman either). What do you think?
c) I know some readers are relieved not to have to wade through lots of ‘historical research’ passages to get to the story. Others feel the tone is too modern (tho’ in answer to one query, yes the Romans really DID measure in feet and inches.) What do you think?
d) Husband’s just suggested, ‘Ruso – a man of the 2nd century or the 21st?’
I’m not sure if any of this is any use, and as it gets ever later at night here my brain is getting slower – sorry!
Thanks for getting in touch – I hope you all have a great time on Monday,
Ruth
PS Maybe there should be an ‘ideas for reading groups’ page on the blog?
Hello Dear Ruth!
I have the question to you
I tried to find your Biography, but Ihave found only this:
In 2004, Ruth Downie won the Fay Weldon section of BBC3’s End of Story competition. Her first novel, Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls was published in the UK in 2006, and in the USA in 2007 (as simply Medicus). The second in the series, Terra Incognita, was published in the US and UK in 2008.
She is married with two sons and lives in Milton Keynes, England.
I will have to improve my exams at the University and the subject of my rexamination it is you , your Biography
and books
I’m going to read your book if I will find it here in Ukraine as I’m very interesting
to say the truthI like historical fiction and I found you the author of Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire as I like this kind of books
If you can give me some more infortmation about you may be just a little
as my exams in June and I would like to imporrove it in the best best way 
and the teacher who will accept the exams she is a professor in English Literature
PLEASE Help!
Best Regards, Irena
Hi Irena,
Thanks for this – I’ll reply by email.
Ruth
We have just “discovered” you! My husband is a history buff, and I’m a bibliovore, and we BOTH loved Medicus. I confess, I actually picked up Medicus as a “remainder” book at my local bookstore (which is how I “try out” most “new” (to me) authors). I’m *thrilled* that you already have two more out, because I can’t wait to read them!
So, never discount the value of remainder sales – you might not make much on that particular book, but – at least in our case – you’ve guaranteed yourself an automatic sale for all your subsequent books!
Thanks, Karen, and welcome to the blog! Great to know you both enjoyed ‘Medicus’ – and that’s a very good point about remainder sales.
Cheers,
Ruth
I am midway on Medicus and am excited to see there’s more coming up. I think it’s pretty good (there were parts that made me snicker and laugh) I think you’re doing a great job. Never stop.
I’ll be writing a review on Medicus on my blog
I will let you know when I have it posted if you’d like.
Hi Karoline,
Hope you enjoy the rest of it! Yes please send me the url when you post the review.
Love the blog, and especially the business about the overwhelming stacks of books waiting to be read – so true. (I haven’t read ‘Twilight’ yet either.)
Cheers,
Ruth
Ruth:
Just finished Persona Non Grata, and enjoyed every page of it. Loved how the ‘barbarian’ reacted to the gladiator fights, and the executions as public spectacle.
Will they back back in the British Isles for Book 4?
Joan
Thank you Joan!
Seeing the Amphitheatre in Nimes was the start of the idea for the book, really. One wonders what sort of mental gymnastics the perpetrators and the audience must have gone through in order to justify the carnage. No doubt Freud would have had something to say about it. (Maybe he did – must ask Husband, who knows about these things.)
Yes we’ll be back in Britain for the next book, although exactly what will happen is probably more of a mystery to me than it should be at this stage, given the current deadline for the manuscript.
Ruth
Hi Ruth!
I finished it!!! it was a great read!!!
http://okbolover.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/review-on-medicus/
I’ll have to go to the library this week for Terra Incognita (hopefully no one else has it out!)
Loved Medicus. There were parts in there that got me laughing
Thanks for this and for the great review, Karoline. Hope the library come up with the goods…
I really enjoyed your first book…. now am starting the second. I would appreciate knowing where you found the quote from Socrates you used in the opening chapters. (I’m a pastor and it would be useful in a sermon.)
What a lot of things a man doesn’t need.
Thanks for the info. Keep writing your stories
CD Haun
Glad you enjoyed it!
I wish I could quote you some obscure Greek source for the Socrates story but actually I picked it up from Jostein Gaarder’s excellent ‘Sophie’s World’. It’s from the section on The Cynics in the chapter on ‘Hellenism’.
He doesn’t give his original source I’m afraid, and I never did manage to pin it down. It seemed like just the sort of thing that would appeal to Ruso, though, so in it went.
Sounds like it’s going to be an interesting sermon…
Just finished Persona Non Grata, all in one day. Loved it, though I missed Valens. Glad to see that there will be a fourth in the series!
Found your site several months ago when I found a copy of “Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls” by “R.S. Downie” at the (American) bookstore. Since I had already read “Medicus” by “Ruth Downie” a year or so earlier, I was wondering why it had been republished with a different title and author. Looked up your site and found that that’s what it was called in the UK (sometimes), though I still haven’t figured out what it was doing at a bookstore in Virginia…
Anyway, love reading about your travels to historical sites. Been planning a trip to Britain, originally for September though now we won’t be able to get to it this year, and whenever it is we go we definitely want to check out some of the Roman sites. Or at least I do, and I will drag my wife along.
Thanks, Kevin. I missed Valens too – he’s a real joy to write, so he’s back in Book 4.
Good luck with convincing Mrs R of the delights of Roman Britain when you get here. Maybe the fact that many historic sites are blessed with tea shops will help?
Cheers,
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
I haven’t yet read your books, but based on the positive feedback here and at http://librarything.com (where I first stumbled upon references to your books) I’ve ordered the first in the series. I’m a sucker for ancient history, though I have tended to mostly read non-fiction in the past. Do you have any favourite historians, books or authors you turn to for reference and inspiration?
I’m a recent fan of Steven Saylor (who I’m sure you’ve heard of), and I very much enjoyed his first book in the Roma Sub Rosa series. It was a bit fluffy, but enjoyable none-the-less. So much so I went out and ordered his entire back catalogue! Looking forward to your book arriving soon!
Hi Oisin,
Thanks for giving Ruso a try. Interesting to hear that you came across him on Librarything – I hope you enjoy his company.
Hm, favourite historians/reference? That’s a tough one. I got into all this through archaeology so I guess I’d have to say the Vindolanda letters. Anthony Birley’s ‘Garrison life at Vindolanda’ is very good. I’ve just enjoyed Mary Beard’s ‘Pompeii’, and as you probably know, the Oxford Classical Dictionary is invaluable for hunting down obscure facts and wasting time reading interesting things you didn’t know you wanted to know about!
Ruth, Very glad to hear book 4 is under way. In response to your question “Did you have experience of this sort of thing with the military?” Yes, I did, long story in short, I met my wife in Spain — she spoke no English at the time and I spoke little Spanish — 20 years later two bilingual kids and and an extended family that spans the Atlantic. Keep the books coming. Cheers. Mike
Oh, that sounds so romantic!
Hello from a new fan. I just found your series so it feels really fresh to me. I just finished reviewing Persona Non Grata my favorite of your books to date.
Normally I read Medieval history novels, but Medicus looked to good to pass up. I am really glad I took the chance and read it.
I look forward to reading more of your books and your blog. I wish you a very successful writing career.
Thanks for getting in touch, Sari – it’s good to know that you felt Persona non Grata was up to scratch! Enjoyed the blog, by the way…
Ruth,
Thank you fore checking my blog out. I am fairly new to reviewing. I am really touched you stopped by. I don’t know if you do blog interviews but it would be fun to have you stop by. I have talked two friends into starting Medicus and know others who would love the series.
Best,
Sari
Thanks, Sari – I’m sure we could fix up a blog interview. I’ll email you separately.
As for reviewing – I hadn’t done any before I started this writing lark, either. It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?
Ms. Downie,
I completed Persona Non Grata a while ago and have been meaning to add my congratulations on a splendid book. I found it most enjoyable. I am going to risk being more specific. The risk is that I will get it all wrong as I am not a scholar or had more than the basics in formal education in literature. That said, I like to read and do so as much as the demands of the real world permit.
In the first two novels, I found it interesting to meet and get to know the characters. The environment you placed them in is fascinating. The story line first rate. The third installment, like the first two held one’s interest to the end. I found the new background environment of the third installment fascinating. Like the first two it was most interesting but did not distract from the characters or story.
What I liked most regarding Persona Non Grata was the development of Ruso and particularly Tila. In the previous novels, we got to know them and went along for the adventure. May I make a cautious parallel to Jane Austen? In Jane Austen’s novels, most characters are who they are, don’t evolve and lack critical self-examination. Her most interesting characters, however, not only know who they are and why, but have insight and understanding as to why others are the way they are and most interesting of all they demonstrate the capacity to grow. I think your Tila in this installment shows some of the same characteristics of Miss Austen’s most interesting heroines. In Persona Non Grata, Tila (as a result of being placed in a new environment and meeting new and different people) engages in the kind of introspection and examination of her fundamental beliefs that reaffirms who she is but also leads to some evolution of who she is. In Sense and Sensibility there is a great line that I think applies somewhat to Tila’s experience “Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions and to counteract by her conduct, her most favorite maxims.” Well, Marianne Dashwood changed more than most of Jane Austen’s characters and certainly more than Tila, but I think the common thread is that it usually takes some extraordinary circumstance or event to cause change, growth or evolution in a person. I think you handled the development and growth of Tila masterfully.
With Ruso in this book, he too develops and grows but not because he is in a strange new environment meeting new and different people as in Tila’s case. He develops because he goes home. “You can’t go home again” can be true because home isn’t home anymore because everything and everyone has changed, or it can be true as in Ruso’s case because while away it was he has changed or grown into a different person. What might have been at least somewhat comfortable once upon a time is no longer comfortable. As a result of this dissonance, Ruso sees the homefront somewhat differently, sees himself differently and sees Tila differently, especially Tila. I think the way you have developed Ruso’s and Tila’s relationship through this novel is wonderful. They value each other more because of their experience in southern Gaul. Hard to see how that could have been done any better. Kudos.
Well, this is more than most blog visitors write. I am sure I am violating some unwritten protocol for brevity when visiting blogs. Too much but also not enough. I hope you take great satisfaction in what you have done. Thank you for writing three most entertaining novels.
Phil Hall
Oregon, USA.
Phil. you’re very kind – I don’t think I’ve ever been mentioned in the same sentence as Jane Austen before! It’s an honour!
I haven’t read ‘Sense and Sensibility’ recently enough to comment – tho’ I did like your quote about Marianne – but think you’ve hit on a good point about developing characters. Back in the recesses of my memory I do recall something from university about ‘flat characters’ and ’round characters’ – the ‘flat’ ones being very useful in peopling a story and providing some background for the ’round’ ones. I have a vague recollection about Dickens using a lot of ‘flat’ people for his minor characters – they’re usually defined by some noticeable characteristic that identifies them throughout the book, and they don’t change.
I’m sure I’ve read something since about comedy, in which half the fun is that the characters never learn where they’re going wrong. Sorry, that’s off at a bit of a tangent.
I was a little anxious about taking Ruso and Tilla out of my own comfort zone (Roman Britain) and possibly some of that uncertainty helped to move them on as characters. Of course now that they’re back in Britain for the fourth book I guess I need to be thinking about how the experience of travel has changed them both… Hm…
I don’t think there’s an unwritten protocol about brevity on blogs. Well if there is, there shouldn’t be, so…
I hereby declare this a protocol-free blog, subject only to the arbitrary tastes of the person in charge of the password. (Me.)
Good evening, Mrs. Downie! Just wanted to pop by and, like the rest of your fans, let you know how much I’ve enjoyed reading about the foibles and exploits of Ruso and Tilla. I’ve wanted to write a review for my own sake for quite a while now and, after finishing Persona Non Grata, finally picking up Terra Incognito (why the title change btw?) and tearing through that in a night, I need to get these thoughts out of my head.
They’re both charmingly naive, headstrong, loyal and sometime plain nuts and it’s good to see that you’re continuing on with them. IMHO, they’re a Roman era Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson with Tilla doing all of the working out of the details and Ruso sort of blundering along, trying to do the right thing whilst keeping her from getting damaged irreparably. God help them when they have children. If they are anything like their parents, Ruso may just go grey early, poor sod.
Thanks again for a lovely, well-thought out, hilarious, rollicking series!
Thanks, Toni! I love the description of Ruso blundering along while Tilla works out the details (and takes the risks). At this rate I think she will turn him grey all by herself, children or not.
The differing titles between the UK and the USA were the result of the UK and US editors failing to agree on the name of the first book, and thus heading off at different tangents. It’s a pain, but it’s too late to do much about it now. And at least some good has come of it: the need to make clear which book is which spurred me into starting a blog, and ‘meeting’ the people who drop by is a real joy.
Ahh so that’s what the deal was. Not surprising, although Terra Incognito had me a bit puzzled (my Latin is not what it used to be) so I sat here for a while wondering what they were going for.
After re-reading Persona Non-Grata, I noticed that there was quite a bit more fast paced action than in the previous books (not that I’m complaining!) and Tilla definitely was out for blood. Ruso seems to have odd notions about what “loyalty” means (it was irritating how he deliberately misconstrued Tilla’s intent when she “slept” with Riaornix (my memory of names is hideous, please forgive me)). Tilla compartmentalizes loyalty: family first, the Medicus and whomever she feels is unjustly wronged. Ruso, though having freed Tilla, still is firmly entrenched in the master/slave roles they initially had. In Persona Non Grata, he has to re-evaluate that bit of thinking and he nearly combusts with the effort. I can understand Tilla’s exasperation with his inability to deal with things he doesn’t want to think about. He accuses Arria of that same problem but brushes it off when the shoe is on the other foot. Just like a man LOL! Really, though, their relationship is very complex; Tilla seems to understand this more than Ruso which, I guess, irritates him enough to think that she’s being irrational or illogical. It’s interesting, too, to see that Tilla acknowledges her weaknesses (i.e. reacting to a situation without thinking). She’s very intelligent and I don’t think Ruso gives her quite enough credit. Ruso means well but there were times that I cringed at his naivete. Poor boy. She’s going to whip him into shape yet
Hi,
I just read your Sept.1 entry about the Greenbelt Festival and Jasper Fforde. Although I haven’t been able to get into the Thursday Next books, I absolutely love the Nursery Crime Division novels and hope he has another simmering in his brain pan. Claim to fame: Fforde thanked a fellow Oak Ridger, John Wooten, in The Fourth Bear for his assistance on some of the stuff on physics. I have met John – several times actually because he keeps forgetting me. For some reason he thinks my name is Sally His wife and I and a mutual friend used to go antiqueing together. So, you and I have a link – you’ve seen Jasper Fforde and I’ve been serially forgotten by someone he personally thanked in one of his books.
Cheers!
Susie Stooksbury – the librarian from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Aha, is this proof of the theory of Six Degrees of Separation? Except that it’s not six. Anyway… being ‘serially forgotten’ must be a demoralizing experience, but what a great expression, um… Sally, is it?
Had to come back and nag you for the fourth book! My husband and I have now finished all three of the “Medicus” books, and are eagerly awaiting number four.
::taps foot::
Is it done yet?
::tap tap::
Is it done yet?
::tap tap TAP::
How about now?
(Just kidding. Kinda.)
Seriously though, we really both love the series – me for the characterizations and mysteries, my hubby for those, but even more for the accuracy in the historical stuff. He gets seriously annoyed at “historical fiction” that gets the history (according to him) ALL WRONG! And then I get to hear about it. A lot.
Aagh! You’re not a secret agent for the publishers, are you Karen? That’s more or less what they’re asking too. Bizarrely, even though I seem to have written three books already, I can never remember how it’s done when I’m in the middle of it. But it is making progress, I promise, and it’s nice to know that somebody’s looking forward to it…
Nope, not a spy, just an impatient fan. And I should warn you – approximately two days after I get the fourth one, I’ll be back here nagging you for the fifth…. Not in a stalkery-kind of way, of course. More like a polite “yum, that was good, may I have some more” kind of way. I don’t call myself a bibliovore for nuttin’!
Hi Ruth,
I saw this article recently that I thought you might find interesting.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915140924.htm
On another note, I was listening to an interview with AS Byatt on her latest book and was amazed at the amount of period research that goes into her books. I suppose it’s the same for any historical novelist.
Given the amount of physical historical research that you do, I was wondering if you surround yourself with pictures of the artifacts or reproductions while you work? I saw previous threads about getting into the mind of people for whom slavery and gods/nymphs/etc are very real things. How do you get into the heads of your characters? Do the re-inactors help?
Regards,
Mark
Mark
Thanks, Mark – your link to the article about the mystery body led me to a wander around the net, and to the discovery that the Caistor dig has a blog – http://caistor2009.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/day-21/ It’s good to see the Iceni tribe famous for something other than having produced Boudica.
Pictures – oh yes, along with maps and lists and sticky notes over every available surface in what should be The Study but would more accurately be called The Distraction Room. (The digital camera is a wondrous thing. Not only are most of the pictures in focus, but some of them are cropped to hone in on the relevant item. Thus the re-enactors appear charging across a field in full Legionary kit with spears raised, but without the yellow tape that separated them from small children in the audience. )
I’m also known to sit in front of the television spinning a fleece on a drop spindle (the way it would have been done in the Iron Age) but this is possibly less to do with research than with avoiding the ironing.
Hi Ruth,
That Caistor blog was great! Thanks. It’s always interesting to see the process from the point of view of the people doing the work. There’s a show here in the States called Time Team America, which is like archaeology for those with ADD — they arrive at a dig and contribute to it for 3 days. The blog has a much more interesting perspective.
There was a program recently on the National Geographic Channel which talked about the conflict between the Druids and the Romans culminating in a battle in Anglesey in which the Druids were wiped out. I think this happened around the same time that the Ruso books are set. More grist for the mill I guess.
Here are some interesting pictures to add to your collection: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/secrets-of-the-druids-4073/Photos#tab-Photos/0
If you run out of room for all of the pictures in The Distraction Room, you might give CoolIris a try. It’s an interesting way to browse through a lot of images. http://www.cooliris.com/
I just got back from Barnes and Noble with “Persona Non Grata”. I’m looking forward to putting my feet up and losing myself in the latest mystery.
Mark
Hi Mark,
Good to know that Time Team has made it across the pond – they’ve adapted a British format which has worked really well to ‘spread the word’ about archaeology over here. Three days isn’t long but if it’s anything like the format here, they do throw huge amounts of resources into the excavation. As for the massacre of the Druids – there might well have been people still alive in Ruso’s time who remembered it, and not fondly. If only we had a British account of events . It’s very frustrating only ever getting the official line from Rome
Ruth
PS thanks for Cooliris, clearly another fine contribution to the Distraction Room.
Hi Ruth,
I just finished “Persona Non Grata”, and all I can say is “Thanks!” There were plenty of red herrings to keep me guessing. Every time I thought I had it figured out I was surprised.
Usually Ruso is the fish out of water in these books, but this time it was Tilla’s turn. At one point in the book I realized that Tilla’s role, in certain respects, is to ask the questions and consider the possibilities that convention won’t allow Ruso to ask. She’s also willing to go places that Ruso would have second thoughts about.
I’m curious if there are questions that Tilla wouldn’t ask? I’m going to have to go back and re-read the earlier books. I don’t seem to remember much about British culture and convention in the earlier books.
As far as the “official line” is concerned, the National Geographic program I mentioned also talked about Julius Caesar’s view of Britons as savages who painted themselves blue and sacrificed each other. I remember reading Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Mists of Avalon” and “The Firebrand” and seeing Arthurian legend, and Homeric epics told from a different point of view. Is there much in the way of historical record from that time? Were the Celtic peoples of Brittany culturally similar enough to the ones in Britain that you would be able to extrapolate cultural norms to the point that you could paint a background for Tilla? I think she’s still something of a mystery to me.
Anyway, I had lots of fun with this book, and as always I’m looking forward to the next one!
Mark
Mark, you’ve hit on the big problem with early British history – we don’t have any. Not written by the natives, anyway. Not because the Druids were dim, but because they seem to have had a deliberate policy of relying on memory rather than writing.
We have descriptions from Romans, but we don’t necessarily know whether they understood what they were seeing – and when there was nobody ‘important’ here, the province falls out of the history books altogether. All we have is archaeology – which is open to interpretation – and documents from Celtic sources recorded several centuries later, largely by Christian monks who may well have improved on the stories. The cultural clues suggest that women had more freedom in British society than in Roman, which is good news for Tilla, and of course there’s plenty of magic/religion.
The dearth of sources is both frustrating and liberating, because it does leave space for the imagination. Given the apparent level of violence in the Iron Age, I do try not to use the ancient Britons as receptacles for vague romantic yearnings about misty hills and poetry recitals round the camp fire. Well not too often, anyway.
As I read through additional comments, I’m rather glad to have found your blog. Question for Ruth: do you teach?
No, I just rant on the Internet!
Ruth
(and I seem to have done something that’s put this comment out of sequence. Doh.)
I want to say that I am one of the Men who seldom read women authors. Usually the subjects I see written by them are not what I want to read about(mostly Romance or serious mystery) and some of the few I have tried to read really wern’t well done. I actually decided to read the third book in the series by default. My local library(Yes I am one of the peole who seldom buy books as I have a great memory about what I have read) is somewhat small and I have a limited list of types of stories I like. So when I couldn’t find anything else to read I decided to try out your book, I loved it. Excellent character development, good story, not sappy, good humor. I started to locate the other books(actually read them in reverse order). Now you are a favorite. Looking forward to the next book.
Jeff, I feel honoured! Thanks so much for getting in touch – and full marks both to you for supporting your local library, and to them for stocking the book.
Happy New Year!
Ruth
I’m one of the men who often reads female authors; I find no reason to discriminate. Though I also read science fiction, a field in which male authors are more numerous.
Hi Ruth,
I just finished reading the third Ruso book and I enjoy each one more than the last. I was very amused to see a reference for a book (?) by Robin Lane Fox at the back. He is my favorite garden columnist and his is one of the first columns I turn to every weekend in the FT.
Cheers, I’m looking forward to the next book. I’m wondering where he and Tilla will end up next. I suppose eventually all roads lead to Rome – that would be fun research to undertake. Enjoy.
Susan
Hi Susan,
Good to hear from you, and I’m so glad you enjoyed Ruso III. As for Robin Lane Fox – yes it’s the same one (or so Wikipedia says). Is it fair that one person gets to be so multi-talented?
I’m still wondering about taking Ruso to Rome – it’s been written about so well by other people that I’m not sure what there is left to say. But I may need to spend a week or two in the sunshine checking it out, to make sure.
How’s your own writing going?
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
I think you would relish a research trip to Rome after the snowy winter in England. I just received several photos from my sister-in-law of Oxford in the snow (quite beautiful) and my father-in-law reported being happily marooned in his Dorset barn, with plenty of food, firewood and new books from Christmas. What could be more ideal!?
I thought Robin Lane Fox’s specialty was more Greek classics rather than Rome, but I shouldn’t be surprised that he is so versatile. He seems to have knowledge of many topics, including badgers in the garden.
My writing is coming along slowly. My second book has not yet reached the “critical mass” stage where I am compelled to write because the story and characters are interacting almost on their own. Have you found that happens when you are writing? I have been totally amazed that the characters go off in directions I did not plan and did not foresee in any of my advance plotting of the story.
My completed first book is gathering dust as I procrastinate on the daunting next step of seeking an agent. I use having a full time job as an excuse – a pretty good excuse, but not totally!
Best,
Susan
I have to admit I find ‘critical mass’ a strangely elusive thing. It’s usually reached in the small hours of the night (or after a large glass of wine) and then subsides the next morning when you really need it – i.e. when the typing of real words has to commence.
I do find the characters go off in unforeseen directions, though. It seems a shame to stop them, doesn’t it? Even though it does mean that lovely plot outline lies in ruins and has to be rebuilt. I can never fathom how anybody gets to the end of a novel with the plot the same way it started out. I guess it’s called Discipline.
Good luck with the agent-hunting!
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
Thought you might find this article from the Times interesting: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/living/article7042984.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
It makes you wonder about the level of cultural diversity that the Romans introduced when they came to Britain.
Mark
Yes indeed. Thanks for this, Mark – I’ll do a post on it.
Hi Ruth, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your first book and am moving onto the second tomorrow! The third is already ordered. Being a fan of all things Simon Scarrow, Anthony Riches etc etc I was a bit dubious when I ordered your first novel as the only place I could get a hardback version (book snob, sorry) was the USA and wasn’t sure what to expect.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters and the setting, Deva as I was born in Chester and have always had a fascination with the Roman Empire, especially Roman Britain. I’m in the process of writing my own story set in AD47 and hope to one day get it published.
Once again, well done, keep up the excellent work and I’ll keep reading and I’m sure your fan base will grow!
Hi Ruth,
Thought you might find this article on a recently discovered gladiator cemetery in York interesting. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7145204.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
Mark
Thanks, Mark! Fascinating stuff – and I see there’s a programme on Channel 4 coming up. I’ll do a separate post.
ruth–
hello again. just finished ‘persona non grata,’ and am now moving dangerously close to picking up ‘roman medicine,’ at your suggestion, despite the fact that i have tons of work to do! the medicine part of the series is absolutely fascinating.
but on to the book: tilla has always been very smart, somewhat headstrong, and entirely likable. but here, she really comes into her own. i made more than one person sit still while i read aloud tilla’s experiences at the prayer meeting with the Christians. it was hilarious, and enchanting, and so insightful. how DOES someone respond to a completely alien religion?
it was nice to be reminded that family dynamics and dysfunctions, as well as the inexplicable glues that hold them together are as old as families themselves. poor ruso…
cannot wait for book four.
linda
Ah yes, reading about Roman medicine (or Roman anything, really)is so much more fun than working. I’ve been enjoying Pliny’s ‘On the Human Animal’ lately. Apparently snake broth gets rid of lice, and women have fewer teeth than men…
So glad you enjoyed the Christians, Linda. They were great fun to write but I did wonder what people would make of them.
They had an interesting discussion on Pliny’s “Natural History” last week. I think it’s still online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/
I didn’t realize that there were several books on drugs and medicine in his “Natural History”.
Thanks Mark – I’ve just had a listen, it’s very good.