At the start of the story, Livia Drusilla is a woman of advanced years who recounts the events of her life. She reminisces about a time when she was a fourteen-year-old girl living under her father’s roof, before she was married. She was the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a respectable Roman nobleman who consequently plotted to murder Julius Caesar.
The Work of Thy Hand
It is 66 AD. Mira Bat-Chet is the daughter of a prosperous Christian family from Yaffa. When the Romans attack, she is taken as a slave and sent to Rome. While there, she becomes a personal attendant to Lady Verina Gallus, member of a prominent patrician family. In the service of Lady Verina, she spends much of her days going to the marketplace, attending to her mistress’s toilette, and embroidering garments with her own skill. When Drusus Flavius Gallus, her mistress’s son, returns to Rome, Mira does what she can to avoid his notice. Despite his attempts to pursue her, she rebuffs him at every instance.
Touching Fire
In this tale set between 81 and 90 AD, Cornelia is a young Vestal Virgin who comes from a Patrician family in ancient Rome. Like all the priestesses of Vesta, she spends her days tending to the holy fire, living out a vow of chastity, and fulfilling the ceremonial requirements of her position. She escapes from the temple one night after she mistakenly lets the fire go out, knowing she will be punished if caught. Thereafter, she has a number of adventures and experiences the horrors of the world outside.
The Daughters of Palatine Hill
Augustus Caesar (once known as Tavius), Rome’s first emperor, is surrounded by three powerful women: Livia, Tavius’s wife and true love; Julia, Tavius’s only child; and Cleopatra Selene (called Selene), Tavius’s ward. Having just defeated the combined powers of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt and Mark Antony, the Roman turncoat, Tavius brings Cleopatra’s children to Rome to take part in his triumph. At the mercy of the Roman emperor, Selene is given into the care of Octavia, the wife who Mark Antony once cast aside in favor of the Egyptian queen. Although she is living amongst those she considers enemies, she is treated like a Roman woman (similar to how a Roman daughter of Mark Antony’s would have been) but is regarded with coldness by Octavia.