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    The Wedding Shroud
    The Wedding Shroud
    The Wedding Shroud
    Audiobook17 hours

    The Wedding Shroud

    Written by Elisabeth Storrs

    Narrated by Christina Traister

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “All the drama and sensuality expected of an historical romance, plus a sensitivity to the realities of life in a very different time and world...” —Ursula K. Le Guin

    In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, the young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from Veii. Leaving her militaristic homeland, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. But, despite her best intentions, she is seduced by a culture that offers women education, independence, sexual freedom, and an empowering religion.

    Enchanted by Veii but terrified of losing ties to Rome, Caecilia performs rites to delay becoming a mother, thereby postponing true entanglement. Yet as she develops an unexpected love for Mastarna, she’s torn between her birthplace and the city in which she now lives. As war looms, Caecilia discovers Fate is not so easy to control, and she must choose where her allegiance lies.

    The Wedding Shroud is the first book in the Tales of Ancient Rome saga. Subsequent books in the series include The Golden Dice and Call to Juno.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateNov 15, 2016
    ISBN9781531891077
    The Wedding Shroud
    Author

    Elisabeth Storrs

    Elisabeth Storrs has long held an interest in the history, myths, and legends of the ancient world. She studied classics at the University of Sydney, and she is a director of the NSW Writers’ Centre and one of the founders of the Historical Novel Society Australasia. Over the years she has worked as a solicitor, a corporate lawyer, and a governance consultant. She lives with her husband and two sons in Sydney. Visit her at www.elisabethstorrs.com.

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    Reviews for The Wedding Shroud

    3.5/5

    37 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This book suffers the curse of many historical novels: by trying to explain and detail every historical reference or archeological find, the story seems like an afterthought.
    • 2/5
      While I appreciate the historical aspect of this story, I agree with another reviewer that the protagonist is not engaging. Things happen to her, and she makes dumb choices. She's largely a victim, which doesn't tend to make for a compelling narrative.
    • 3/5
      After her father dies, Caecilia of Ancient Rome is relieved when she is adopted by her uncle. However, her relief is short-lived when she learns that she is to be married to Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman and widower for political purposes. Although Mastarna lives in the Veii, a city in Etruria, and is only approximately twelve miles north of Rome, its culture is so different from her home, it might as well be hundreds of miles away. Although she welcomes the more egalitarian relationships between the sexes refreshing, she finds many of the religious and sexual practices abhorrent. Although the affection between Caecilia and Mastarna grows, she feels that the love for her deceased wife is an insurmountable barrier between them.

      Much of the book describes Caecilia feeling like a “stranger in a strange land” grieving unfulfilled dreams left in Rome. The novel did provide a list of principle characters and glossary of terms which helped with unfamiliar aspects of both the Roman and Etruscan cultures; however, I did find that I spent so much time looking up terms that it took away from the story.
    • 4/5
      First in a new series called Tales of Ancient Rome, the Wedding Shroud is set in 406 BC. Roman noble Caecilia is the orphaned daughter of a patrician woman and a plebian tribune. She was adopted by her maternal uncle, Aemilius, and is being sent to the city of Veii in Etruria to wed Vel Mastarna to seal a truce between the two cities. She feels no attraction to Vel and longs to stay in Rome where she's in love with Drusus, rather than enter into a political marriage as a hostage.

      The wedding shroud, part of the Etruscan wedding ritual, is a mantle that covers the couple during the ceremony symbolizing a united destiny in life and death. Caecilia's been taught her entire life that the only right way is the Roman way. She's appalled and intrigued by the Etruscan way of life and the freedom the woman are allowed. Caecelia is stubbornly trying to cling to her stoic self control and rigid behavior but she reluctantly begins adjusting to the new freedom offered her in Veii. She learns of Vel's dark and painful past and reluctantly begins to fall in love with him.

      The book is filled with rich historical detail and complex character development. There are intriguing details of both Roman and Etruscan life. The detail is artfully handled with an eye to revealing more about the cultural attitudes. Both historical and romance-oriented, the sexual situations are handled within what I would consider the time period. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to the second of the series, The Golden Dice.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like this book more than I did. Set in 406 BC, this novel told of a political marriage between an unwilling Roman girl and a noble Etruscan meant to bring peace between two cities who hate each other. The opening sentence "Her whole world was orange" grabbed me--her Roman wedding. She returns to Veii with her husband, is married in Etruscan rites but then the book lost me halfway through. She does nothing to accept her husband's culture until she's under the influence of an aphrodisiac to make her submit to her husband willingly, then drugs to bring about religious ecstasy. She finally makes and acts on a momentous decision. The result is not what she expected and she has another choice to make. The author did mention several books she used as source material, but the drug aspect and the too-permissive nature of the Etruscan society seemed fabricated. Yes, the descriptions of the clothing, surroundings, and opulence were well done but hard to believe. I liked the husband and his family, but the heroine to me was an absolute idiot for not accepting the husband for his good points and for her getting involved in drugs and an ancient death cult. I had my heart in my mouth at a pankration match between a Greek Olympian champion and her husband.
    • 4/5
      I'm going to give this book a 4 star rating, mostly because of it's potential to be amazing. The first half and maybe even a bit more I was completely hooked. The main character is wonderful and you love her from the beginning, however, once you get passed the first half, the story starts to become muddled with way too much going on and the characters start to suffer from an identity crisis of sorts. Now some might argue that this is the point for the main character, but that seemed to transfer to the others as well. I did love it enough to look forward to the next book in the series though.