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The Edge of Empire

Book One of The Borderlands of Britannia

A mythic historical fantasy of Roman Britain and Celtic gods, by Dana Birkmour

For readers who crave myth-infused historical fantasy with political intrigue, a slow-burn romance, and gods who walk unseen beside mortals. A richly woven historical fantasy set at the edge of the Roman-occupied world of second century Briton. Where gods stir, myths awaken, and the simmering choice between destiny and defiance unfolds beneath the weight of empire.

Lucillia is the daughter of a Legate, a former handmaiden of Fortuna, and soon-to-be wife of Tribune Quintus Severus. She walks a path as certain as the stones of the Via Appia: paved with Roman duty and imperial tradition.

But, in the wilds of Britannia—as forces of menace once bound by the gods are unleashed—fate has other plans for her.

At the mist-veiled frontier, the construction of Hadrian's Wall is carving a stark divide between civilization and the untamed wilderness beyond. Rome’s rigid order clashes with something older, something restless: forces that whisper through the dark forests and stir in the unseen depths of the land.

Caught in the web of gods both familiar and foreign, Lucillia becomes an unwitting player in a struggle that has been generations in the building. And as the battle lines blur between tradition and myth, duty and destiny, she must discover who she truly is and where she truly belongs—before the mists of Britannia swallow her whole.

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Author: Dana Birkmour
Series: The Borderlands of Britannia, Book One
Genre: Mythic Historical Fantasy
Setting: Second-century Roman Britain, during the construction of Hadrian’s Wall
Mythology: Celtic, Romano-British and Classical
Publisher: Moontree House Books

History, Myth and the Edge of Empire

The Edge of Empire takes place on Rome’s northern frontier at a moment when Hadrian’s Wall is beginning to impose a physical boundary across a landscape whose peoples, cultures and beliefs do not divide nearly so neatly.

The novel brings Roman religion into contact with the gods and traditions of Britannia, using that meeting of cultures as part of the fantasy itself. Historical places, beliefs and tensions provide the foundations, while figures including Fortuna, Brigantia and Cernunnos become active forces within Lucillia’s world.

At its heart, the story asks what happens when an empire can claim the land beneath your feet, but not necessarily the stories, gods or identities rooted within it.

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