Gates of Fire

Xeones, a wounded Greek survivor captured by the Achaemenid Persian army, recounts how he came to serve among the Spartans and march with King Leonidas to Thermopylae. Through his testimony, the novel follows Spartan training, family life, military discipline and the relationships that bind the three hundred royal guards and their allies before Xerxes' invasion.

The defence of the pass becomes both a military action and a study of courage under certain defeat. As the Persian host closes around them, Leonidas and his men prepare to sacrifice themselves to delay the invasion and give the other Greek states time to organise their resistance.