The Conquered

Naomi Mitchison's The Conquered moves from the sea-washed Celtic world of the Veneti to the disciplined, widening reach of Rome, tracing how conquest reshapes both nations and private lives. In 58 B.C., Meromic dreams of speeches, girls, and greatness, but his bright morning with his sister Fiommar becomes a tender farewell to childhood as they sail to an island, fish, swim, and speak of marriage, homeland, and the shadow of Roman power. At Kormiac the Wolf's torchlit feast, songs, boasting, and a wandering storyteller turn politics into myth and myth into prophecy, while Meromic and Fiommar glimpse the forces that will govern their futures. The tale's magic gives way to Rome in 57 B.C., where Titus Veturius Barrus, a sternly raised young patrician, enters military service in Gaul and learns the realities of war, loyalty, and Caesar's ambition. Through letters home, generational conflict sharpens as his grandfather denounces Caesar and Titus grows into admiration for the commander's victories. A winter ritual, a broken oath, and a mysterious druidic intervention deepen the novel's sense of pagan dread and wonder, while Titus's struggle over his Gaulish slave Meromic exposes the brutal human cost of empire. Rich in Celtic atmosphere, Roman politics, and the emotional toll of slavery, the novel explores kinship, identity, power, and the price of becoming conquered. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.