Elodie Harper

One of the key things I wanted to portray in this book is the initial section is very much just within the Iceni world and the points of view of Boudicca and her daughter Selina.

But then in the later sections, I have points of view of Paulinus and Selina.

And really, they see one another as barbarians.

They see one another's cultures as savage and strange.

And so that's how

We see it when it's through their eyes, but then we see theirs as the norm and just trying to think about the ways in which different people might have found common ground.

And outside of the elite as well, as we were talking earlier with the sack of Colchester, some people might have gone into business with the Romans who'd arrived.

They might have worked for them as craftspeople.

They might have done joint enterprises, for all we know.

There could have been

All sorts of stuff happening at all different stages of the social scale.

Although it must be said that the Romans were pretty xenophobic about the Britons at this period.

Well, they didn't rebel again.

It's hard to say exactly.

I mean, there was this period of famine and horrific repression after the revolt.

It seems like they may not have been able to use their ability to sell salt.

But also, we then have the much more conciliatory approach of Classicianus, the procurator who came after the one that sent the soldiers off to attack Boudicca.

And he was actually of Gallic descent, so potentially had a better understanding of what it meant to be Roman and something else simultaneously.

He took a much more conciliatory approach.

So one would hope that