Hadrian's Wall

Romantics have long had a love affair with the noble savage. Uncorrupted by civilization, primitive man lives in utopian simplicity - in total freedom, in harmony with the earth and with a soul as good and pure as the driven snow. That love affair is alive and well in the historical romance novel, Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich.

The time is the late 300's. Christianity is in its ascendancy and Rome is in the beginning of its decline. At the farthest reach of the Empire stands Hadrian's Wall, the last defense of civilization against the marauding savages of Caledonia. It's cold, wet, and rustic at the Wall. And about as far from Rome as a Roman can get. But it's there that the young and beautiful Roman maiden, Valeria, must go to save the senate career of her father.

In exchange for a cash infusion from a noble family, her father has betrothed her to a Roman officer. Not only does the officer get the fair Valeria, but he gets a preferment - the command of a fort at the most western reach of the Wall. Valeria is a dutiful Roman - anxious to do good by her family and her new husband. She's also an adventurous, head strong girl who openly embraces the wild new world to which she's sent. But all is not well at the Wall. There's intrigue among the officers and there are barbarians in the woods. Soon, Valeria finds herself north of the Wall, a captive of one of the clans. And what does she find in the wild North? Freedom and love. Ah, for a life among the savages.

Dietrich has done his research. The descriptions of Roman customs and culture are done well and are accurate. But he suffers from Romantic delusions when it comes to the barbarian tribes. In the novel's world, the Picts are a free, uninhibited and democratic people. The reality is more complex. They, like the Romans, had a hierarchy. They, like the Romans, had slaves. And they, like the Romans, had good men and bad men. And they weren't above brutality, as even Mary, Queen of Scots learned oh so many centuries later.

Article Author: Sydney Smith

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