What’s your favourite drink, colour, and relaxing pastime?īeer, blue sky (rare and precious in my homeland) and singing songs about the great victories of my ancestors. That is how I know that Britannia is best. I have seen parts of the world none of my own people will ever see. I thought things would improve when he left the Army, but we still don’t have a cow or even a vegetable patch. But the worst thing about being married to this doctor is the constant moving house. Usually it would be the people calling on him at strange hours, or the peculiar smells when he boils up medicines, or the disgusting topics of conversation. What is the worst thing about being married to a doctor? Is it possible to die of fright? I don’t want to find out. Of course I didn’t know my husband was going to go missing at the time. But so was being tied up in a shed and lying awake listening to the rats. I would like to say it was the terrible thing that happened when my husband went missing, and that was indeed very frightening. What was the scariest thing in your adventures? But then my own husband found out more, and we both began to wonder. Then I thought, but Valens was always a useless husband, and then I thought, surely being a useless husband and having opinions on things you know nothing about does not make you kill your wife. What did you first think when you heard that Valens was accused of murdering his wife?Īt first I thought, that’s impossible. Really I think it was just my husband who was asked, but I guessed he would need some help, and I couldn’t leave the baby behind, so we all went. We were asked to rush south to the spa town of Aquae Sulis, because my husband’s best friend was accused of murder. What can you tell us about your latest adventure? I can go out and earn some money helping deliver other people’s babies, and when I’m not doing that I’m free to help my husband when he gets himself into trouble. So it’s much better now we have a babyminder. Sometimes it’s nice to get all the way to the end of a conversation without having to stop and wipe up somebody’s dribble or pat them on the bottom. Sometimes it’s nice to think about something else. Even though I was the one who wanted the baby, I didn’t mean I wanted to have to look after her all day and all night, all the time. I used to find that very annoying at the time, but it’s true. I try not to think about when I was a child, because then I think about my brothers, and I start to wonder about the men they would have grown into and the girls they would have married and all the nieces and nephews that will never be, and as our Mam used to say, Nobody likes a girl who feels sorry for herself. Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories? Which can be very awkward when you’re married to one of them. Roman soldiers have a nasty habit of setting light to things, too. Sometimes when I listen to our old neighbours complaining about the emperor’s Great Wall across the land, I want to say to them, well at least you’ll never have to worry about the northerners coming in the night to steal your cattle and burn your house down, will you? But I‘ve learned to keep quiet. I say ‘used to’ because there’s hardly a trace of any buildings there now. Our farm used to overlook a beautiful wide river valley. One of the things I’ve learned about Romans is that they’re very good at having opinions on things they know nothing about. Well, it was NOT “some flea-bitten outpost beyond the last supply depot”, no matter what my husband’s friend might tell you. Tell us a little about where you grew up. This interview celebrates the release of Memento Mori, the 8th volume in the acclaimed Medicus series, which we’re just nuts about. She is here to tell us about life bridging the British and Roman worlds. Though married to a Roman officer, she is a healer (and now a Roman citizen) in her own right. We have interviewed her husband before, but we thought it only fair that we give her a voice too.īorn as Darlughdacha of the Corionotatae (really, she’s not quite sure why people prefer ‘Tilla’), on the furthest reaches of the Roman empire. Dear readers, tonight with me is the wife of an officer in Hadrian’s legions.
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