The Eagle and the Raven

“All we wanted was to be left alone”.

This is a book that needs to be read slowly. Come to it with a clear mind. Yes, it is full of difficult names and different tribes. Leaders of both sides come and go, all realistic characters that tell stories of a far-away time but carry a message that never becomes old. The desire of everyone of us to be free, free in every way, regardless of religion, ethnicity, financial status etc. Yes, we all live together sharing our Earth but this doesn't mean that the few can dictate a way of life to be shared by all, to obey blindly. Where is the freedom of choice we all desire? Is it a given? Far from it, I'd say. In our days, we see enemies of a different kind of oppression, enemies that are invisible, enemies that do not brandish swords, but money, surpluses and modern machine guns.

When you read the final page of a 700+ book and you find that there wasn't a single ‘‘filler'' moment, you experience something rare, especially for a lover of Historical fiction, a genre notorious for its ‘‘fillers'''. There are numerous books about Boudica's rebellion against the army of Rome. the best example is the tetralogy of Boudica by Manda Scott. (If you haven't read it, you must!) It is the first book, though, that Caradoc takes a part of the spotlight. My knowledge of him was limited to the Celtic class in univeristy. Here, the narration is divided between his attempts to free a nation and Boudica's struggle to find the balance between the wishes of her cowardish husbad and her fiery nature that longs for a free Albion.

“Such a little word, freedom, such a small request, and yet the asking of it has consumed the soul of a people.”

The fight seems doomed from the start, the conclusion is well-known. Still, the author has created a book that takes you in an exciting, mystical journey. Each character has something to offer. Caradoc, his illusions, Eurgain, her fierce devotion, Gladys, her love, Aricia carries the wounds of the past like markings from a hot iron, causing havoc, bringing dishonour. She was my favourite character in all her controversial nature. I found Caradoc a bit naive, and watching Boudica trying to put up with Prasutagus' notions of a Roman peace was painful. He should have known that the lion would not lie down with the lamb.

There is a sentence that struck me the moment I read it. ''Far away, in the swirling autumn mists of Albion, the light of freedom flickered and went out.'' Thank God that the statue of Boudica and her daughters in London by Thomas Thornycroft, facing Big Ben, stands as a witness to the candle of freedom that is put out far too many times and, yet, is always lit again...