Scipio by Ross Leckie
In this, the sequel to his internationally acclaimed and best-selling historical novel HANNIBAL, Ross Leckie tells the epic story of Scipio Africanus. Spanning six decades and three continents, SCIPIO is a riveting fictional memoir that charts the life of one of the great Roman leaders. Scipio's defeat of Hannibal at the battle of Zama was a pivotal victory which paved the way for Roman expansion. His subsequent destruction of Antiochus at Magnesia and Philip V at Cynoscephalae helped to establish Rome's dominance of the world as they then knew it. Despite all this Scipio remained a flawed character; a man whose blindness to his own weaknesses ultimately brought about his own downfall. Leckie brilliantly evokes the period in this superb historical novel. The result is a gripping and moving tragedy, an account of one man's successes and failings, filtered through the eyes of his compassionate, wise and loyal friend.