Sitting alongside his Nero series and set in Ancient Rome, master storyteller Conn Iggulden's epic next novel follows a freed slave's fierce fight to survive and ascend through the ranks of power

Ancient Rome, AD 37

A scribe in a noble household, all Cormac has ever known is a life of slavery. When his master suddenly relieves him of his post, along with a hundred other men and women, Cormac is furnished with documents to free him from bondage but given no means to survive.

Somewhere between slave and citizen, the freedom to live is the freedom to starve too. All that was once orderly, structured and routine is now chaos, and Cormac must learn life anew.

His writing skills have afforded him flickers of opportunity in a world far wealthier than his, but will he resist the pull of the city's underbelly? Can he untangle himself from its crimes?

Conn Iggulden's next novel will take readers on an epic journey to discover what one man - fighting against all the odds - will make of his freedom.