Rufius

In 4th century Alexandria, a poor orphan learns to scribe. Meanwhile Rufius, a rich Roman, tends the books in his care and years for the youth on the streets. It's a time of rampant bishops, mad heretics, and a city so ruled by passion it is set to consume itself along with the world's greatest library. As the poor boy and the rich Roman unite, hell almost literally breaks loose. In this startlingly fine debut, Sarah Walton steps into the classic terrain of Mary Renault and Margeurite Yourcenar. Like them, she stirs a spectacular story of the Ancient World. Unlike them, her lead character is not one of history's heroes. For the first time in literature, a cinaedus steps front stage. Sexually, Ancient Rome ran by a different moral code. One thing firmly outlawed was the passive male. Exiled to 4th Century Alexandria, put in charge of books while zealots set to burn libraries, Rufius is only passive sexually. He is an irrepressible creation. Searching the streets for a youth that excites, he finds Aeson. Their love story transcends age, scruples, class barriers, and the historical record. AUTHOR: Sarah Walton was born in 70s London. In the 80s she partied. In the 90s she partied harder, studied literature in France and Spain, founded a dot.com and went to Silicon Valley. A bump on the head wiped out a few years. Sarah advises governments and businesses on digital. She has also been a creative writing tutor at the University of Hull, club VJ, designer, dancer, programmer and the worst waitress in the world. She threw away her first novel as she thought it was rubbish. Busy writing a new psychic mystery novel, Sarah has a PhD in Creative Writing. She lives on the edge of the South Downs with two Italian greyhounds.