Marcus: The Young Centurion
1905
Marcus is eighteen, the son of a disgraced Roman general, and he has never held a sword without his father's disapproval ringing in his ears. While his father dreams of scholars and scrolls, Marcus dreams of legions, of the glory that was stripped from his family name. Then Caesar arrives at their farm, and everything changes: war calls his father away, and suddenly the path to destiny cracks open. Enter Serge, a weathered old soldier who sees in this defiant boy the fire he once carried himself. Under Serge's rough tutelage, Marcus begins the brutal, exhilarating transformation from farm boy to centurion. Fenn builds his protagonist with fierce, mischievous spirit, showing us a young man torn between family loyalty and the burning need to forge his own identity. The historical backdrop of Roman military life provides both adventure and moral weight: what does honor really cost, and can a disgraced name ever be redeemed? This is coming-of-age fiction at its most elemental, about the moment a boy decides who he will become.
