Atlantic Books seizes Draycott's 'revealing new history' of an Ancient Roman woman

Atlantic Books has seized Jane Draycott’s "revealing new history" on the life of an Ancient Roman woman.

Atlantic non-fiction editorial director James Nightingale bought UK and Commonwealth rights in A Thoroughly Rapacious Female: How Fulvia Played the Game, Broke All the Rules, Won, and then Lost in Ancient Rome from Doug Young at PEW Literary.

The book, which will be published in hardback in 2025, tells the story of Fulvia, who "amassed a degree of political and military power unprecedented for a woman in Ancient Rome at that time".

The synopsis says: "Married three times to men who moved in powerful circles, including Marc Antony, Fulvia was not content to play the usual background role that was required of a wife, instead she challenged the Roman patriarchy and sought to increase her influence in the face of determined opposition."

The publisher continued: "Using original sources to piece together her life and sort fact from fiction, while also exploring the role of women in Roman society, Jane Draycott retells Fulvia’s life anew and offers an original and fascinating take on the chaotic period when Rome was violently transitioning from a republic to the dictatorship of the Roman Empire."

Draycott is a Roman historian and archaeologist, and the author of Cleopatra’s Daughter: Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen, (Head of Zeus). She is currently lecturer in ancient history at the University of Glasgow and co-director of the University of Glasgow’s games and gaming lab.

Draycott said: "I’m delighted to be moving to Atlantic Books to further my career as a popular historian. They are the perfect platform from which to launch A Thoroughly Rapacious Female and unleash Fulvia on the world. With her as our guide, we can visit an unfamiliar Rome, one in which women played a crucial, albeit less high profile, role in many of the events leading up to the fall of the Roman Republic."

Nightingale added: "I’ve long been looking for a smart, original and engaging work of classical history and A Thoroughly Rapacious Female delivers that and more."