I finally finished ‘Daughters of Rome’, which has been an interesting historical fiction to read. It took me longer than normal to finish since put the book aside for two days while I was reading ‘The Hunger Games’ and between work and spending time with my toddler.
‘Daughters
of Rome’ is the second book by Kate Quinn and it focuses on the Year of
Four Emperors (which is after the death of Nero). This period is prior
to her first book, ‘Mistress of Rome’ so if you wanted, you can read
‘Daughters of Rome’ first before you read ‘Mistress of Rome’. Prior to
reading, I knew nothing about the Year of Four Emperors. I can only
imagine how the Romans felt during that time as four different Emperors
took the throne when allegiances were made and broken.
The
book is focused on the lives of the four Cornelias of the house of the Cornelii. The four Cornelias were Cornelia Prima, Cornelia Secunda (aka
Marcella), Cornelia Tertia (aka Lollia) and Cornelia Quatra (aka Diana).
As Nessus says in the book, Romans didn’t have much imagination in
naming their daughters. Imagine naming your daughters and
nieces this way. Yikes! The two older Cornelias were sisters and if
you’ve read ‘Mistress of Rome’, Marcella is Domitia (Domitian’s wife).
The last two Cornelias are cousins (who are fictional).
In
the prologue, Nessus reads the fortunes of the four Cornelii as young
girls. He was a charlatan but he actually read real fortunes from these
young girls (which surprises him). The fortune is that
among the girls, there would be marriages, widowhood and a number of
children. But the one that surprises Nessus the most is the girl with
blood on her hands.
The
book is separated by the four emperors’ reigns – Galba, Otho, Vitellius
and Vespasian. During each of these reigns, the four Cornelii go
through different lifestyles. However, being close as they are, they
always have each other.
· Cornelia
loses her beloved husband Pico during the reign of Galba. This will
fuel her hatred of Otho, which she will help bring down. She gets
another chance in love with an unexpected character during the last two
reigns.
· Marcella
is the most complex character. She loves to write histories and after
witnessing Otho’s fall, she realizes that she can write her own history. She learns that she can be very persuasive to see what the outcome would be.
You kind of want to hate her.
· Lollia
keeps getting married depending on the allegiances her grandfather
makes. When Rome is going through different emperors, you need to make
the right allegiances. Poor Lollia goes through marriage and divorce
before she is even 20 but despite it all, she finds a way to amuse
herself.
· Diana
is a fun character. All she cares about are the Red team. She loves
watching the charioteer’s games and dreams of becoming a charioteer. She
does get her chance during Vitellius’ reign, which is a good
description of the races. If you have a good imagination like I do, you
can almost feel the wind as Diana's horses (named the four Anemoi) run. It would get your heart pumping to find
out whether she wins or not.
You
will also find similar characters from ‘Mistress of Rome’ so it’s
interesting how they became the way they did in the first book. Such
as Marcus Norbanus getting a limp and a messed up shoulder during his
imprisonment. Also, little Flavia (Lollia’s daughter) becoming a
Christian.
Like I said, this has been an interesting historical fiction to read. If you like Ancient Rome or just looking for something to read, this is a good choice to read during these rainy April weather. I do look forward to reading Kate Quinn's third book, 'Empress of the Seven Hills' sometime this year.
