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Heroica, Alison Morton

Posted on 23rd May, 2026 in Book Review, Romans

Alison Morton’s twelve-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the twenty-first century.  However, there have been some revolutionary changes since the days of the original Empire. It is no longer a patriarchal society or a limited democracy. Women now rule Roma Nova under a constitutional monarchy, with the power of an Imperatrix balanced by the Senate.

Heroica comprises three stories: Revolution? set in the present; Honoria’s Battle set in 1683 Vienna; and The Idealist, set in Central Italy in 1849. Each story focusses on a woman descended from the Mitela family, one of the original founding families of Roma Nova. Carina, Honoria and Statia are all called upon to act at a crisis point for the state: rebellion in the present day; the threat to Roma Nova’s existence in 1683 should Vienna fall to the Ottomans; the defence of Roma Novan values in a fledgling Italian republic. The book includes a useful glossary of Latin words, as well as notes on the historical background to each of the stories.

One of Heroica’s most interesting themes is the way in which the past and the present collide. Old family rivalries revive accusations of treason in The Idealist; the threatened revolution in Revolution? echoes the unrest fostered by demagogue Publius Clodius Pulcher in late Republican Rome; religious tensions (between pagans and Christians) endure through the centuries in Honoria’s Battle. The Roma Novans themselves are respectful of history: important families keep meticulous records and employ their own archivists.

But this is a Roma Nova book and so there is plenty of action! For readers familiar with the world of Roma Nova, the stories will be a fascinating enrichment of its colourful past. For new readers, these “snapshots” of Mitela women and the challenges they face are an invitation to immerse themselves in that world.

Excerpt from Revolution?, the first story in the HEROICA collection 

Set in the European country of Roma Nova, the last part of the Roman Empire that has survived from the late fourth century into the twenty first. It’s 2020 and rumours of sedition originating in Brancadorum, a sleepy, rural town in the east, have triggered an investigation by the Praetorian Guard Special Forces. Carina Mitela, a PGSF captain, is investigating undercover along with her colleague Flavius, who is posing as a tough for hire. She is concerned she may have been compromised.  

Roma Nova, 2020

I drove a couple of kilometres along the main road leading to Roma Nova city, then parked up in a copse at the side of the road. Fortunately, the early spring warmth had triggered the trees into producing a generous cover of leaves. I was pretty sure that whoever had searched my room hadn’t been able to burglarise my vehicle – it was a PGSF ‘special’ pool car with added security, not merely standard digital locks. It would take considerable effort to get inside. All a carjacker would get was an innocent response saying the code was wrong or the locks had jammed. And the presence of any bug would have triggered a warning light on my key fob as I approached it.

I swapped my clean white shirt and designer jeans for plain green field pants, red T-shirt and a light zipped green jacket to cover the red. My lockpicks went straight into a waist pocket where I could find them easily. I’d learnt that lesson early in my time in the PGSF. Shucking off my trainers, I tied on hiking boots and fastened a sheath at the back of my waist belt for my carbon knife. The small field backpack would carry anything else.

A pity it wasn’t night-time or dusk or even dark with cloud threatening rain. No, it was a perfect spring day in the mountains with a luminous blue sky so I pushed my sunglasses firmly onto the bridge of my nose. Oh, well, if I couldn’t stay under tree cover, I’d have to throw myself in the roadside drainage ditch if any traffic came along. Most commercial freight from the city to Brancadorum came by train, so road traffic would mostly be local private vehicles. If my field sensor detected a drone, I’d run for cover. Did these rabble-rousers have drones? They were very cheap, so probably yes. But they wouldn’t have the obligatory licence, so no names to check on the aviation register. Fabulous.

On the outskirts of Brancadorum, the formal milestone declaring itself erected in the glorious reign of Justina Apulia – our Imperatrix Silvia’s grandmother – welcomed me to the town. My response was to shuffle down the first side street I found. Luckily, being more recent, the fringes of the urban area were built on a grid pattern, so I could parallel the decumanus maximus road into the centre, out of view of the CCTV.

I’d made sure I was on the north side of the dec max as the Temple of Juno was northeast of the forum. It wasn’t that old as it had been rebuilt in the late 1700s after a fire. The architect had followed the ragingly popular Greek fad of the time so instead of being a neat modest building you could sneak into, it had ended up with six columns in front forming the portico, each over eight metres tall, with tens of other columns around the rest of it. In the street perpendicular to the temple, I peeled off my light jacket, revealing my red T-shirt, stuffed the jacket in my backpack and tied a coloured scarf over my forehead and my hair. My sunglasses would hide a good portion of my face.

After checking both ways, I slid into the portico from the side, then into the anteroom of the temple. This time, I wasn’t even pretending to make a sacrifice. Anyway, I couldn’t see a priestess hovering anywhere and the barred door to the inner cella where the statue of Juno stood was locked. A notice above a bell said to ring for the priestess, if required. Must have been her day off.

Behind half columns to the side were small shrines with miniature statues of Juno in her various sub-forms – Sospita, Regina, Moneta and others I had no clue about. Flavius was waiting by the third one down.

‘You okay?’ He frowned at me.

‘Yes, of course. Why?’

‘They’re searching for you. The word is that you’re a police spy.’

‘Damn! Attus targeted me last night, so he must have already been suspicious.’

‘One of his staffers picked up by the urbans said you were hauled out and taken to the commander – Lurio, I presume – then let go.’

‘He probably picked others out as well to cover me.’

‘They’ve all been questioned by my new colleagues – harshly.’ He glanced towards the door – nobody.

‘I’m completely busted then.’

‘’Fraid so.’

Buying links for HEROICA

Amazon: https://mybook.to/HEROICA_RomaNova

Other retailers: https://books2read/HEROICA

Connect with Alison on her World of Thrillers site: https://alison-morton.com