The Ides of March

Rome, March 44 BC. Julius Caesar has ended the civil wars and concentrated extraordinary authority in his own hands, but reconciliation has not removed the fear that the Republic is becoming a monarchy. Senators, former enemies and disappointed allies move between private meetings and public ceremony while warnings of an assassination struggle to reach a ruler who believes his political settlement is indispensable.

The novel follows the final days before the Ides through conspirators, loyal officers, messengers and members of Caesar's circle. Brutus and Cassius must turn grievance into coordinated action, while Antony and other supporters fail to recognise the scale of the danger. Because the outcome is known, the tension lies in the narrowing opportunities to prevent it and in the competing ideas of liberty, loyalty and order used to justify murder.