Jack Mitchell’s The Roman Conspiracy is a historical novel set in the first century BCE. It tells the story of the discovery and defeat of Catiline’s conspiracy to overthrow the Roman Republic from the point of view of Aulus Lucinus Spurinna, a teen-age boy. Aulus travels to Rome to seek the aid of the Cicero (Consul of Rome and his family’s patron or protector) against the former soldiers who are threatening his family’s tenants; he is also eager for vengeance against the man who killed his uncle.

As the story unfolds, what has happened to Aulus’ family proves to be part of a wider conspiracy, and he finds himself caught up first in Cicero’s efforts to prove Catiline’s guilt and identify the conspirators and then in the battle against Catiline and his allies. His persistence and bravery play an important role, but he is accompanied and assisted by his secretary Homer, an enslaved Greek with a particular fondness for the poetry of Hesiod, and by Cicero’s daughter Tullia, who is inventive, bold, and in general two steps ahead of everyone else. The narrative includes portions of Cicero’s first speech against Catiline, and Cicero’s ordinary conversation reflects a way of putting things that will be familiar to anyone who has encountered his work in a Latin class. – Deborah Roberts