Red Queen, White Queen

Name: Red Queen, White Queen
Rating: 3.77 (77 reviews)

by Henry Treece Book 3 in the Celtic Tetralogy series.

First published 1958

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3.6(77)

In AD 60–61, the Iceni queen Boudica leads a revolt against Roman rule after the abuse of her family and kingdom. Gemellus, a young Roman soldier, is sent on a mission through a province already strained by taxation, confiscation and resentment. His attachment to Eithne, a British woman, turns the rebellion into a personal division of loyalty.

As Colchester, London and Verulamium are attacked, Gemellus sees imperial confidence collapse into fear and retaliation. Treece presents both the fury of the uprising and the violence of Rome’s response without reducing either side to a simple cause. The romance becomes a measure of how conquest makes private trust almost impossible when identity itself is treated as allegiance.