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Black & White Publishing, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has signed Circus Maximus by A D O’Neill.
Campbell Brown, executive publisher, acquired world rights from David Forrer at InkWell Management. Circus Maximus will be published on 14th March 2024.
It is described as “part saga and part race-against-time adventure, weaved around historical fact, and centred on the splendour and intrigue of the Circus Maximus, the greatest sporting arena in history.”
Its synopsis reads: “The sombre and stoical Corax of Campania (‘the Raven’) and the flamboyant and cocksure Alector of Arcadia (‘the Rooster’) are two champion charioteers for the Green Faction in Imperial Rome. The first half of the book charts their rise to prominence, their unlikely friendship, their falling out over the sublime Greek slave girl Xenia, and their banishment from Rome for refusing to lose an exhibition race against the emperor Caligula.
“The second part is set against the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). In a symbolic bid to shore up his power, the tyrannical new emperor Vitellius seeks to annihilate the Green Faction in the Circus Maximus. Corax, now a 55-year-old horse breeder in Spain, and Alector, a trainer of charioteers in Syria, have just 28 days in which to transport four champion chariot horses to Rome — braving earthquakes, blizzards, storms at sea, military engagements and attacks by assassins. Blending history, imagination and pure adrenaline, Circus Maximus is an epic adventure."
O’Neill, the author of seven novels, said: “I’ve been fascinated by chariot racing since seeing ’Ben-Hur’ as a child. The sport was much bigger and more spectacular than anything in the Colosseum but doesn’t seem to have achieved the same prominence in the popular imagination. Hopefully my novel – which took years to get right – will go some way towards changing that.”
Brown said: “We are very excited to be back working with A D O’Neill to publish his thrilling new historical fiction. He is a master of creating intense stories that keep you hooked. Readers will feel the heat on their face and the noise of the arena as they are transported back to Ancient Rome in this epic story.”