REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER CATLING
Rather than inventing a landscape, Anne Buffoni has set this gripping adventure story within places that can be visited in the Cotswolds. Usefully, she includes itineraries at the end of the book to encourage readers to visit sites such as the Iron Age settlement at Bagendon or to see objects such as the intricately patterned bronze mirror that is a highlight of the Museum of Gloucester and plays a key role in the story.
Buffoni clearly wants her young readers to discover and enjoy archaeology, but the book is far from didactic. Against the menacing background of the Roman invasion, the idealistic hero and heroine overcome slavery, injustice, fear and danger, difficult journeys, and separation from loved ones. You will want to cheer when the villainous uncle gets his comeuppance, after collaborating with Rome and causing so much distress in the community. The ending satisfies, but is deliberately open-ended: by casting her hero Kirin as leader of the native resistance, Buffoni opens the door to further adventures and further novels – let’s hope so.
Anne Buffoni
Crumps Barn Studio, £9.99
ISBN 978-1915067357
