The Beacon at Alexandria

A good read. The protagonist is pitched into a series of dilemmas, which she solves with increasing difficulty by hiding her identity to achieve what she wants. The irony is that she achieves what she most wants when her identity is revealed against her will. Enough said.

It took a while to get into this. The characters are well drawn, with good dialogue, but her home life is a bit black and white, with reader sympathy assumed rather than earned. Then Alexandria isn't really brought to life until the religious politics are engaged - after that I flew through to the end, and actually regretted turning the last page, which is a sign of a good yarn.

The main drawback is that the protagonist is a little earnest - she spends the whole story striving and fretting and yearning. Not much humour. And places are not evoked vividly - it's more geographical location with stock descriptions of bustling market places.

The relegation of the empire cracking battle of Adrianopolis to expressions of regret between two lovers is OK. It does create the sense of end of era, and this is historical romance with its own priorities.

p.s. It didn't occur to me until I read the reviews here that Alaric might become the man who sacked Rome.

Like some of the other reviewers of this product, I have loved this book since I first read it. In fact, it is one of a handful of books that I enjoyed so much that when I finished reading it, I immediately read it again.

The characters in the book, especially Charis, are fascinating people that I love to spend time with. I still reread this book (and several other of Bradshaw's) every couple of years because reading them makes me feel so good. And for those of us who are not terribly familiar with history, this kind of solidly researched historical novel can give some insights that we would otherwise not have. I do agree that some of the world-view that we find here is more modern than seems at all likely at the time - but this is a novel, and the book is much more accessible to and enjoyable by the modern reader for that reason.

Highly recommended.

This is a very well written book with a gutsy and strong heroine who wants to become a physician in ancient Rome. There is a pleasant side romance as well. After reading the book, I found myself looking up maps of Ancient Rome to plot the heroines travels from Ephesus to Alexandria. It really sparked my interest in early Christianity, the Council of Niccae, the Goths, etc. It is history with a great romance attached. It would be appropriate for Young Adults as well, especially teen girls who want a well researched story of female empowerment.

I was a great fan of Bradshaw's early Arthurian trilogy. Beacon at Alexandria is entertaining, informative and beautifully written. It's on my re-read

very few years list...my own version of a supreme compliment.

I just became acquainted with the writing of Gillian Bradshaw. The story was fast-paced with action, drama and love. I enjoyed reading about a woman who had a passion to be more than a pawn for marriage. It could be said the story wasn't too plausible - but then, what do we know of that era? Hypatia is a great example. Although Bradshaw admitted that she took some license with names and perhaps a few other details - but on the whole if you are looking for a good book to read, I recommend this.