Dominic
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A beautifully written and stunningly evocative debut novel, DOMINIC follows the title character's adventures through the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, depicting a society rife with reckless abandon and chaos, a world of display and caprice. Into this milieu arrives Dominic, an orphaned dwarf child from Gaul. Left to fend for himself, his travels bring him into contact with many colorful personalities, such as a caravan of gypsies and the inmates of a dungeon. His adventures eventually land him in the company of a friend, the gigantic Danish bard Kevin Dunskaldir, who helps him defeat an evil as sinister as any force threatening the empire. Creating two unique heroes, who act against the mighty backdrop of a society in transition, Robinson successfully brings together all the elements of a literary masterpiece in this classic tale of friendship, fate and adversity. DOMINIC is exhilarating historical fiction, featuring characters you won't easily forget.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Robinson begins her episodic debut novel with the birth of the dwarf, Dominic, in Gaul in A.D. 375. As Dominic travels through the provinces to Rome, Constantinople and the borders of the Roman empire, the daily lives of Gauls, Greeks, Goths, pagans, Christians, peasants and aristocrats are portrayed in detail. Orphaned as a child, Dominic is sold to the owner of an itinerant Greek circus troupe, becomes an accomplished acrobat and learns to enjoy the vagabond life. After escaping the wrath of a Roman senator, he is betrayed and sold to an Arab trader who in turn sells him to an enlightened master in Constantinople. The death of this master leads into a drawn-out account of Dominic's subsequent torture and degradation at the hands of the bestial commander of a Roman garrison on the Rhine. Pagan, Greek, Roman and Viking myths color this lively but overlong chronicle.
