Emperor - Stephen Baxter

A long time ago I wrote down the names of the 'Weaver' series though I never saw them in the shops, so I was delighted when I saw the first three books in the local library. The books are: 'Emperor', 'Conqueror', 'Navigator' and 'Weaver'. 'Emperor' follows the fortunes of one family living under Roman rule in Britain. A woman in childbirth starts screaming out words none of her family except one, who (luckily) knows Latin and records it. The mystery is how this woman, who was uneducated, could suddenly know Latin. In time the words are recognised as being a prophecy. The future generations of the child born during the prophecy are followed, including a plan to ...

I am a lover of reading and like to read novels set in different periods of Englands history. I brought Emperor because the front cover appealed to me and this is a perfect example of why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Emperor is set in 3 different ancient periods. The first is around 34 AD where a man called Nectovelin is carrying a prophecy through the ancient villages and tribes of the UK. The prophecy was uttered in Latin by his mother when she was having a difficult and painful labour who soon after died giving birth to him, it was special because his mother had never even heard Latin let alone learned to speak it. He has great faith in the ...