Changes

If you've never encountered Falco or Albia before, you're in for a treat. The historical detail is lightly done but so convincing that you'd swear you were right there at the wedding party, the temple or the Palatine. The characters are vividly drawn, from lazy slaves like Dromo to aging ageing assassins still sulking that they were overlooked for promotion, and quite without realising it you find you suddenly know a lot more than you thought possible about the duties and responsibilities of new brides, or correct etiquette at the local baths. But there's not a whiff of the classroom or the lecture theatre in the air – in fact, in a section of her website whimsically named ''Rants'', Ms Davis declares herself fed up with nit-picking readers who tell her she's got some teeny-tiny detail ever so slightly wrong. From now on, she thunders, she intends to put five deliberate mistakes in every book, just to keep the more anal among us busy and content. You've gotta love an author who goes to such generous lengths for her readership.