Gutsy women!

I always write strong female characters into my narratives.

These are women in bygone times who would have had no truck with today’s misogynistic bullyboys.

I’ve been doing this for years but only recently did I detect a hint of this strangely viral disease, from a USA reader, in a review of Vipers of Rome (Sapere Books, 2024):

"A Roman/Sicilian female who was a navigator, a fighter, and a tracker made me mentally step back every time she appeared on the page."

The character, Marina, is Sicilian and why wouldn’t a woman from that island find joy in navigating by the stars and at the same time throw in her lot with a downtrodden community facing aggression from a power-hungry ancient dictator? It would be pointless, I know, to suggest the reviewer reads my other novels to find (and be enlightened by) more women in my historicals who achieve great things against the odds…

NITSEVET

The mother of a future king is reviled by the priests and the mob in her home town because they falsely believe she just might have committed adultery. "Dudebro" (white misogynist male) bullies might think they like the opening paragraphs of Line in the Sand (Sapere, 2024), but they'd be in for a shock if they read further:

‘What is going on?’ the woman asked. 

‘It’s nothing,’ said the taller man with a false smile. ‘They just want to ask you a few questions, that’s all.’ 

‘About what? Why are all these women here? And why outside the gates?’ 

The woman took a step back, but the other youth grabbed her wrist. She felt the strength of his large farmer’s hand and tried to pull away. ‘Let go of me,’ she hissed, but he pulled her towards the priests, the other pushing her onwards. Her headscarf slipped with the sudden movement, revealing greying shoulder-length hair. She struggled but the men were too strong. 

‘Why do you not treat me with the respect due to your mother?’ She fought back tears. 

The women in the crowd fell silent and turned to watch the peculiar sight of two of the headman’s sons dragging their reviled mother towards the priests, then voiced a rising swell of scorn and curses. The woman felt a hopeless shame wash over her. Her knees gave way so that she was dragged, stumbling, before the priests. How had she allowed this to happen after so many years of keeping herself away from these ignorant people? 

She muttered a prayer to Yahweh, the distant god who demanded secrecy and silence in the face of bitter accusations. She fell to her knees as her wrists were released. She groped for her head covering and pulled it loosely over her hair to try to cover her shame. 

Her tears fell freely now, splattering in the dust before the sandalled feet of the priests. She noticed the black dirt under their jagged toenails. The taller youth crouched beside her and spoke calmly, his mouth close to her ear. ‘Everything will be all right if you just tell the priests where your little bastard is.’

Yup, "dudebro" priests in Iron Age Judah 1,000 BCE. But today’s dudebros won’t like the outcome let alone the role of women in the story of David & Goliath in Line in the Sand. BTW I am indebted to Chana Weisberg of the Chabad Institute for her wisdom in explaining why Nitsevet, mother of King David, was so reviled. Including this quote from Psalm 69: “Those who sit by the gate talk about me. I am the taunt of drunkards.”

ZARA

Then bullyboy should go on to read Sea of Flames (Sapere, 2024) which features a starring role for Zaramandukht (Zara to her friends), handmaiden to Queen Cleopatra alongside Iras and Charmion. I won’t tell you what the bad guy does to Zara and her boyfriend Eurycles because there’s a chapter of serious shock and awe in the book. Of course, Mister Nasty gets his comeuppance...

You’ll be rooting for Leandra in Libertas (Sapere 2024) who ends up ruling a small Mediterranean port that is modern-day Marbella. 

And bullyboys will hate the series I’m currently working on – The Britannia Conspiracy set in northern Gaul and Britain in 56-54BCE. Bear with me on this, but she's flame-haired priestess who plays a crucial role in seeing off Julius Caesar, the ultimate dudebro with distinct Trumpian traits. (That's her in the cover shot for this article.)

Trust me, there will be more like this...