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The Legate's Daughter, by Wallace Breem

Carla
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The Legate's Daughter, by Wallace Breem

Post by Carla » Sat December 24th, 2011, 1:23 pm

First published 1974. Edition reviewed: Phoenix, 2005, ISBN 0-75381-895-7. 310 pages.

The Legate’s Daughter is set in Rome and Mauretania (North Africa) in 24 BC, against the background of a fictional political intrigue in the reign of Emperor Augustus. Several secondary characters are historical figures, including Augustus’ wife Livia and daughter Julia, King Juba of Mauretania and his wife Cleopatra Selene (daughter of Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony), and various important Roman senators including Marcus Agrippa. All the main characters are fictional.

Augustus is ill and has no heir, and the senators of Rome are plotting in factions to gain the succession. When a senior Roman legate in distant Spain is killed and his daughter kidnapped, it is a serious embarrassment to Augustus’ government. Curtius Rufus, a failed centurion with a taste for gambling, drink, women and trouble, is despatched by Marcus Agrippa to find and rescue the girl. Together with his friend, a Greek secretary and aspiring poet called Criton, and a reluctant detachment of Praetorian Guards, he arrives at the court of King Juba and Queen Cleopatra Selene in Mauretania. Curtius soon discovers that all is not what it seems, as he uncovers a complex web of intrigue and deceit whose threads reach not only to the highest levels of the Mauretanian court but all the way to Rome itself.

The Legate’s Daughter is a political thriller, and doesn’t have the military setting or the action of Wallace Breem’s famous The Eagle in the Snow. The plot is driven by the slow disentangling of layer upon layer of lies and half-truths, and Curtius Rufus is frequently in the dark and having to guess at what is really going on. People speak in veiled allusions and cryptic references, which may (or may not) become clear in time. As a result, the reader needs to be alert to every detail and nuance to have any chance of following the story. I read the book twice before I pieced some of the plot together, and I suspect there are still intricacies that I missed. This is a book that needs concentration; think John le Carre rather than Simon Scarrow.

The street scenes are superb, both in Rome and North Africa. Sharply drawn vignettes bring the bustle and variety of a big city to vivid life, such as the beggar boys waiting like starlings for the baker to overload his cart so they can grab the spilled bread without being accused of stealing. The political shenanigans in Rome and in North Africa are well, if slowly, brought out (provided you pay attention), and an atmosphere of threat and menace builds gradually to the tense climax.

Despite the title, the legate’s daughter is hardly mentioned for the first third of the book, and appears only in a brief and rather pathetic glimpse towards the end. The focus of the story is Curtius Rufus, and although the narrative is in third person it’s mainly his viewpoint that the reader sees. Curtius is intriguing and contradictory, always wanting the opposite of what he presently has. When he has a steady job he is bored and resents its restrictions; when he loses the job he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When on his mission in North Africa he longs for his irresponsible life in Rome; when living on his wits in Rome he yearns for the stability of a respected role. Clearly very able when he chooses, as shown when he has to carry out emergency repairs to an aqueduct in imminent danger of collapse, he has nevertheless managed to fail at every career he has tried. He treats women badly, but somehow remains irresistibly attractive to them. The ending, like the rest of the book, is ambiguous, with more questions than answers: will Curtius make a new start, with a respectable job and the love of a good woman, or will he drift back to his precarious life in the slums?

Tense political thriller set in Ancient Rome, with layer upon layer of deceit, intrigue, plot and counter-plot.
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
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annis
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Post by annis » Sat December 24th, 2011, 5:17 pm

Wallace Breem is one of those unfortunate authors who never overcame the curse of an outstandingly brilliant debut novel. Comparisons to Eagle in the Snow blighted anything he wrote later and he soon gave up his alternative career as a novelist.

Like many others I've only read Eagle in the Snow, but your review might tempt me to give Legate's Daughter a go. There's a lot of depth to some of these older historical novels which makes them very rewarding to read if you're prepared to make the effort.
Last edited by annis on Sat December 24th, 2011, 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Carla
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Post by Carla » Wed December 28th, 2011, 3:24 pm

[quote=""annis""]Wallace Breem is one of those unfortunate authors who never overcame the curse of an outstandingly brilliant debut novel. Comparisons to Eagle in the Snow blighted anything he wrote later and he soon gave up his alternative career as a novelist.

Like many others I've only read Eagle in the Snow, but your review might tempt me to give Legate's Daughter a go. There's a lot of depth to some of these older historical novels which makes them very rewarding to read if you're prepared to make the effort.[/quote]

I didn't know that about Wallace Breem. Poor guy. I must be one of the very few who didn't read Eagle in the Snow first. I came across Legate's Daughter somewhere by chance. If you do read it, I'll be most interested in your opinion. I'm still not at all sure I fully got the plot.
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

annis
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Post by annis » Mon January 30th, 2012, 7:36 pm

I finally got round to reading Legate's Daughter, and to be honest I'm not sure why this novel never took off - it's wonderfully atmospheric, the characterisation is excellent and the mystery a challenging one which makes the reader really think (aha - maybe that's why it didn't take off!) As you say, a lot of the clues lie in half-heard conversations and barely-caught allusions, and it did take me a little while to comprehend that the seemingly random kidnap of the legate's daughter was a case of killing two birds with one stone for the conspirators - the motive was essentially a personal one (preventing an unwanted romantic alliance with a rival family), but also served a wider political purpose (embarrassment for Augustus in his perceived inability to protect highly-placed Roman citizens).

The role of Cleopatra Selene in the plot is also an intriguing touch.

I can't help wondering if Lindsey Davis might have been inspired by this book- I can see the genesis of Marcus Didius Falco in Breem's Curtius Rufus.
Last edited by annis on Mon January 30th, 2012, 7:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Carla
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Post by Carla » Mon January 30th, 2012, 10:14 pm

[quote=""annis""]I finally got round to reading Legate's Daughter, and to be honest I'm not sure why this novel never took off - it's wonderfully atmospheric, the characterisation is excellent and the mystery a challenging one which makes the reader really think (aha - maybe that's why it didn't take off!) As you say, a lot of the clues lie in half-heard conversations and barely-caught allusions, and it did take me a little while to comprehend that the seemingly random kidnap of the legate's daughter was a case of killing two birds with one stone for the conspirators - the motive was essentially a personal one (preventing an unwanted romantic alliance with a rival family), but also served a wider political purpose (embarrassment for Augustus in his perceived inability to protect highly-placed Roman citizens).

The role of Cleopatra Selene in the plot is also an intriguing touch.

I can't help wondering if Lindsey Davis might have been inspired by this book- I can see the genesis of Marcus Didius Falco in Breem's Curtius Rufus.[/quote]

I never made any connection between Falco and Curtius Rufus, but now you've mentioned it I can see your point! I'd say Curtius Rufus is darker, though. Not sure I could see him settling down with a good woman, even Helena Justina; I thought there was a self-destructive element about him that I don't pick up from Falco.

I agree, it does make the reader think. It took me two readings to pick up some of the allusions, and I don't think I got them all. Unlike a more conventional mystery novel, there isn't the 'scene in the library' at the end where all is explained, so the reader can't just skate along on the surface of the plot and wait for the solution to be handed over. You may well be right about why it didn't take off. Sadly.
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

annis
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Post by annis » Mon January 30th, 2012, 11:43 pm

I agree that Curtius Rufus is a much darker character than Falco, who is essentially an optimistic chap and has his family and Helena Justina to sort him out if he starts getting moody :) Falco's also of Roman blood- Rufus isn't and feels keenly that he is regarded as inferior because of it. Curtius Rufus is a man of great potential- you can see this in the way he steps up to the mark when put on the spot - but seems either unable or unwilling to make the most of his talents. He's something of an anarchist, with no patience for the sort of conventional game-playing needed to get ahead in Roman society. The sense of opportunities lost adds a distinctly melancholic air to the story.
Last edited by annis on Tue January 31st, 2012, 12:09 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Post by parthianbow » Tue January 31st, 2012, 2:13 pm

I've only ever heard that this book was a bit of a turkey. After both your comments, I'll place it back on the teetering To-Buy mountain. Thanks!
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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Tue January 31st, 2012, 2:30 pm

I have this in Mt. TBR. Been saving it for when I'm in the mood for Roman HF. Perhaps I'll give it a try at some point this year. I have so many shelf-sitters like this.

annis
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Post by annis » Tue January 31st, 2012, 6:00 pm

Legate's Daughter doesn't have the straightforward heroic quality of Eagle in the Snow which appeals to so many people, but deals in the much more murky area of political paranoia - meaningful glances, conspiratorial whispers in shadowy corners, the half-expected tramp of the Praetorian Guard at the gate and a one-way escort to the Mamertine Prison, or maybe a timely warning followed by flight or hasty suicide.

The case of the legate's daughter is really a bit of a red herring - its significance lies in the fact that it provides a lead to a larger plot to depose Augustus and determine his successor. I won't say how that plays out as it would be a major spoiler!

It's one of those novels that stays with you well after you've finished it, and I think this is due to Breem's evocative writing and complex characters. Curtius Rufus reminds me quite a bit of Keith Roberts' rebellious Sergius Paullus in The Boat of Fate, another character who goes through life determined to shoot (or should that be stab?) himself in the foot.
Last edited by annis on Fri February 3rd, 2012, 5:16 pm, edited 13 times in total.

annis
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Post by annis » Fri November 2nd, 2012, 3:02 am

I thought David Maclaine's recent review of Legate's Daughter at the Historical Novels Info website did an excellent job of capturing the brooding atmosphere and paranoia which characterise this sadly underrated mystery.

http://www.historicalnovels.info/Legates-Daughter.html

I see there has been some question as to whether LD's hero, Curtius Rufus, might have been a nod to the real life Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, but apart from the name and a nebulous connection to Africa, there seems to be little to link the real Curtius Rufus with the fictional one.
Last edited by annis on Fri November 2nd, 2012, 3:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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