This feature spotlight is in conjunction with Brook’s author takeover on October 13th at The Historical Fiction Club on Facebook. If you wish to ask her questions or get an insight into her novels, come join the fun here anytime during the day: The Historical Fiction Club
Brook Allen is a historical fiction powerhouse with her first novel, “Antonius: Son of Rome”, winning the gold for 2019 for Best Historical Novel from The Coffee Pot Book Club awards. Now, along with “Antonius: Second in Command”, the second novel in the trilogy, comes the third installment “Antonius: Soldier of Fate”.
Brook has a passion for ancient history–especially 1st century BC Rome. Her current work is a trilogy on the life of Marcus Antonius–Marc Antony, which she has worked on for the past fourteen years. The first installment, Antonius: Son of Rome was published in March 2019. It follows Antony as a young man, from the age of eleven, when his father died in disgrace, until he’s twenty-seven and finally meets Cleopatra for the first time. Book two, Antonius: Second in Command, will be published this fall and will detail Antony’s rise to power alongside the notorious Julius Caesar.
In researching the Antonius Trilogy, Brook’s travels have led her to Italy, Egypt, Greece, and even Turkey to explore the places where Antony once lived, fought, and eventually, died. While researching abroad, she consulted with scholars and archaeologists well-versed in Hellenistic and Roman history, specifically pinpointing the late Republican Period in Rome. Brook belongs to the Historical Novel Society and attends conferences as often as possible to study craft and meet fellow authors. Though she graduated from Asbury University with a B.A. in Music Education, Brook has always loved writing. She completed a Masters program at Hollins University with an emphasis in Ancient Roman studies, which helped prepare her for authoring her present works.
Brook teaches full-time as a Music Educator and works in a rural public-school district near Roanoke, Virginia. Her personal interests include travel, cycling, hiking in the woods, reading, and spending downtime with her husband and two amazing Labrador Retrievers. She lives in the heart of southwest Virginia in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.
Blurb: Marcus Antonius has it all—power, prestige, a heroic military reputation, and the love of Queen Cleopatra. But as master of Rome’s Eastern provinces and kingdoms, he must maintain peace, and in so doing, he sacrifices his own happiness, yoked within a loveless marriage and an eroding alliance. As Octavian’s star rises, Marcus must compete with his rival’s success, though it leads to an embittered struggle threatening to end their unity. Once Marcus finally takes matters into his own hands, his fate becomes tied to the East—and Cleopatra. Far from Rome and his seat of power, a horrific campaign to fulfill Julius Caesar’s vision will forever alter him. He is a man torn between two countries and two families, and ultimately—a soldier fated to be the catalyst transforming Rome from Republic to Empire.
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