Plenty of entertainment and education, with Roman traders selling their wares and some splendid fights in the arena.

Meet the Romans in the shadow of the wonderful Colchester Castle, once the site of the Temple to Claudius. There’s a Facebook page here and this is the Yorkshire Museum website. The programme is still being put together so do check before travelling. Weekend of 7-9 July – Eboracum Roman FestivalĮboracum’s splendid Roman Festival will be returning! Lots of men in shiny armour marching through the streets of York, a chance to talk books with “Roman” authors and historical fun for all the family in the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum. More info on the Library Facebook page –

I suspect the librarian has been trying to forget them ever since. I’ve been asked to bring the “terrifying medical instruments” I took to another library event. There will be workshops and talks, one by me. I’ll be keeping company with several fellow-scribes in the foyer for most of the day, so do drop in and say hello if you’re in the area. (Mar.Looking forward to taking part in Barnstaple Library’s Literary Day – part of a series of arts events happening across the town during the Bank Holiday weekend. Downie's auspicious debut sparkles with beguiling characters and a vividly imagined evocation of a hazy frontier. Tilla plots her escape as she recovers from her injuries, and just when Ruso becomes attached to her, she runs away, complicating his personal life and his investigation.

Gaius becomes a reluctant detective, but his sleuthing threatens to get him killed and leaves him scant time to work on the first-aid guide he's writing to help salvage his finances. Meanwhile, young women from the local bordello keep turning up dead, and nobody is interested in investigating.

Gaius rescues and buys an injured slave girl, Tilla, from her abusive master, but she refuses to talk, can't cook and costs more to keep than he can afford. His quarters are filthy and vermin-filled, and his superior at the hospital is a petty tyrant. Gaius Petrius Ruso, a military medicus (or doctor), transfers to the 20th Legion in the remote Britannia port of Deva (now Chester) to start over after a ruinous divorce and his father's death. The salacious underside of Roman-occupied Britain comes to life in Britisher Downie's debut.

Ruth downie medicus in order