Hope Unchained

Is truth worth the price if it costs you everything? For Tribune Glabrio, descended from three consuls of Rome and determined to be the fourth, commanding the troops policing Carthago appears ideal for hastening his political rise. Arriving from Rome with the secretly Christian Sartorus as his aide, Glabrio discovers the man he was to replace has vanished without a trace. Was the missing tribune too close to finding the counterfeiters Glabrio is now hunting? But no matter the cost, duty and honor require him to enforce Roman law. Orphaned as a child and taken to live with her pagan grandfather, Martina met Jesus through her step-grandmother. Their faith was a well-kept secret, even from most of their family. With both grandparents now dead, her uncle helps Martina hide the faith he doesn't share. But after a single dinner at her uncle's, the new tribune is determined to get to know her. No matter what she does to discourage Glabrio, he won't leave her alone. But if he discovers her faith, will it mean her death? When Martina rescues Glabrio from the counterfeiter's schemes, he learns the people who risked everything to save him share the faith that got his grandfather executed. Embracing that faith could cost him the future he planned on. As an officer of the empire, it's his duty to reject it...but what if it's true?Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and loveThe Light in the Empire series of novels should delight lovers of Biblical fiction set in Roman times and lovers of ancient world historical fiction where world views collide.Truth and Honor is the twelfth volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of several Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, Judaea, North Africa, and, of course, to Rome itself. (lib)

Is truth worth the price if it costs you everything? For Tribune Glabrio, descended from three consuls of Rome and determined to be the fourth, commanding the troops policing Carthago appears ideal for hastening his political rise. Arriving from Rome with the secretly Christian Sartorus as his aide, Glabrio discovers the man he was to replace has vanished without a trace. Was the missing tribune too close to finding the counterfeiters Glabrio is now hunting? But no matter the cost, duty and honor require him to enforce Roman law. Orphaned as a child and taken to live with her pagan grandfather, Martina met Jesus through her step-grandmother. Their faith was a well-kept secret, even from most of their family. With both grandparents now dead, her uncle helps Martina hide the faith he doesn't share. But after a single dinner at her uncle's, the new tribune is determined to get to know her. No matter what she does to discourage Glabrio, he won't leave her alone. But if he discovers her faith, will it mean her death? When Martina rescues Glabrio from the counterfeiter's schemes, he learns the people who risked everything to save him share the faith that got his grandfather executed. Embracing that faith could cost him the future he planned on. As an officer of the empire, it's his duty to reject it...but what if it's true? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love The Light in the Empire series of novels should delight lovers of Biblical fiction set in Roman times and lovers of ancient world historical fiction where world views collide. Truth and Honor is the twelfth volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of several Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, Judaea, North Africa, and, of course, to Rome itself.

River of Life: a Roman-era adventure with dangerous choices, unlikely friendships, world views in conflict, and a love story you won't forget.When the future you dreamed of looks impossible, maybe God has a better one planned.Driven from home because of her Christian faith, Neferu lands a position tutoring Jason, her childhood friend's young son. Jason's father despises him and banishes both the boy and Neferu to his ancestral estate, where Jason becomes the target of a family member who wants Jason's inheritance for her own boys. How can a mere servant thwart her mistress before her young charge is killed? Knowing what she does, is her life at risk as well?When Lusario's new master, Caelus Martinus, decided they would train together to work as architects, Lusario's once-bleak future seemed bright. But if they don't get a commission within a month to design a building, both will lose the future they long for.During their trip up the Nile to compete for a building contract, disaster strikes, forcing Neferu to rescue Lusario and Caelus from certain death. As the threat to Neferu and Jason grows, both men would do anything to protect her and the boy. Might death await them all if they fail?"This is a fabulous ancient-world series of novels that follow the lives of fictional early Christians. Carol is meticulous with her research and a true expert on Ancient Rome! History lovers and those who enjoy my biblical books are going to LOVE this series!" -- Roseanna White, best-selling author and Christy Award winner. If you enjoy the Roman-era Biblical fiction of Tessa Afshar and Francine River's Mark of the Lion series, you'll love the stand-alone novels of the Light in the Empire series. (lib)

Is the price of true friendship ever too high? In AD 122, Adela, the fiery daughter of a Germanic chieftain, is kidnapped and taken across the Roman frontier to be sold as a slave. When horse-trader Otto wins her while gambling with her kidnappers, he entrusts her to his friend and trading partner, Galen. Then Otto is kidnapped by the same men, and Galen must track them half way across the Empire before his best friend loses a fight to the death in a Roman arena. Adela joins Galen in the chase, hungry for vengeance. As the perilous journey deepens their friendship, will the kind, faithful man open her eyes to a life she never dreamed she'd want? A trip to the heart of the Empire poses mortal danger to a man who follows Jesus, especially when he must seek the help of an enemy of the faith for Otto to survive. Tiberius hunted Christians when he governed Germania Superior and banished his own son when he became one. When Tiberius learns sparing Galen offers a chance at reconciliation, he joins the trio on their journey home. Can his animosity toward the followers of Jesus survive a trip with the Christian man whose courage and faithfulness demand his respect? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love Faithful is the fourth volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of four Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read as a stand-alone. The eight novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.

Duty and honor had anchored his life, but only truth could set him free. Devotion to duty and dogged determination make Tribune Titianus the most feared investigator of the Urban Cohort. Honor drives him to hunt down anyone who breaks Roman law, but it becomes personal when Lenaeus, his old tutor, is murdered in his own classroom. Why kill a respected teacher of the noble sons of Rome, a man who has nothing worth stealing and no known enemies? Had he learned something too dangerous to let him live? Pompeia was only a girl when Titianus studied with Father before her family became Christians. She and her brother Kaeso can't move their school from the house where their father was killed. But what if the one who killed Father comes to kill again? Kaeso's friend Septimus insists they spend nights at his father's well-guarded home. But danger lurks there as well. As Titianus hunts for the murderer, will he discover their secret faith and arrest them as enemies of the Empire? When Titianus gets too close to finding the killer, the hunter becomes the hunted. While he recovers at his cousin Septimus's house, Pompeia becomes the first woman to touch his heart. But a tribune's loyalty is sworn to Rome, no matter how he feels. When her faith is revealed, will truth and love mean more to him than honor? Does honor require more than devotion to Rome? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love More Than Honor is the tenth volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of six Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The twelve novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself. (lib)

Must the secrets we hide destroy our hope for a future? For a gladiator slave, each time you step on the sand, it's kill or die. When Ursus decides to follow Jesus, he must choose to die the next time he's ordered to fight...or run away. He runs, taking again his childhood name, Matti. But he isn't just trying to escape. He's running to Thessalonica, where he hopes to find other Christians like the woman who led him to faith. When Felicia's new husband, Falco, almost kills her in a fit of rage, her uncle won't help her end the marriage with his business partner. He will send her to her sister in Thessalonica, but only if she tells no one she plans to divorce Falco and demand her dowry back before she gets there. When Matti interrupts a robbery too late to save Felicia's money for traveling by sea, he offers to bodyguard and escort her overland to their mutual destination. After Matti risks everything to save her from Falco's assassins, Felicia fears taking the danger to her sister's family. When his Christian friends take them in, she discovers the deepest desires of her heart. But will the secrets of Matti's past make a future together impossible? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love The Light in the Empire series follows the interconnected lives of five Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The eleven novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.

The chains we cannot see can be the hardest ones to break. When Aulus runs up a gambling debt to his father's political enemy, he's desperate to pay it off before his father returns to Rome. His best friend Marcus suggests they fake the kidnapping of Aulus's sister Julia and use the ransom money. But when the man they hired kidnaps her for real, Aulus is catapulted into a desperate search to find her. Torn from his childhood home by Rome's conquering armies and sold as a farm slave to labor until he dies, Dacius's faith gives him strength to bear what he must and serve without complaining. After a deadly accident makes him one of Julia's litter bearers, he overhears Marcus advising her brother to kidnap her. When Dacius almost dies thwarting the kidnapping, a Christian couple take them in to keep her brother from finding them before her father returns. But pretending to be free again makes returning to slavery more than Dacius can bear, while acting like a common woman opens Julia's eyes to dreams and destinies she never knew existed. With her brother closing in and her father almost home, can she find a way around Roman law and custom to free them both for the future they long for? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love The Light in the Empire series follows the interconnected lives of four Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The eight novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.

Can the deepest loss bring the greatest gain? Rome's conquering army took Ariana's family and freedom, but nothing can take her faith in Jesus. When she rescues a tribune's wife from certain death, her reward is freedom and a chance to free her brother and sister. But first she must catch up with the slave caravan before they vanish forever, and tracking them from Dacia to the coast seems impossible for one woman alone. Discharged from the legion with a hand crippled by a Dacian knife, Donatus faces a future without hope. When the tribune asks him to escort Ariana on her quest, it's the only work he can find. It means four weeks with a Dacian woman and a gladiator bodyguard, but it takes money to eat. A man without options must take what he can get. But a lot can happen in four weeks. Even battle-hardened men can be touched by love and forgiveness, and it's easier to face an enemy with a sword than to face the truth. When his moment of truth comes, what will Donatus choose, and what will that mean for all of them? Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love The Light in the Empire series follows the interconnected lives of four Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The nine novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.