the thieves of ostia by caroline lawrence

In the shop, the goldsmith offers her six hundred sestercii for her jewelry, and she accepts.

Flavia notices one African girl at the end of the line who did not flinch or shiver and whose wooden plaque beared her price: six hundred sestercii. On the way, she spots a group of shivering naked girls in chains being whipped to walk by Venalicius, a slave trader rumoured to kidnap children. Three days later, on her birthday, her father takes her out to the blacksmith in hopes of selling the jewelry she found in the magpie's nest so she could use the money to by the Aeneid. She also meets Bobas, their sweet, white house dog. Safe, she meets Mordecai ben Ezra, a Jewish doctor and her next door neighbor who treats her ankle and offers her mint tea, and his children, Miriam, who tends to her asthmatic brother, and Jonathan, the boy who saved her life. A boy helps her to her feet and assists her in walking, alternatively throwing stones at the dogs with his sling.Īs they near the town wall, the boy leads her to the door beside her house and they tumble through.

A voice commands her to come down, and she falls, spraining her ankle. Screaming for help, she is surprised when some of the dogs yelp and jerk in pain, as if they were struck. However, before she could lower herself to the ground, a pack of wild dogs had gathered below her, panting hungrily up at her. She also takes a couple bangles and two earrings, one made of electrum-an alloy of silver and gold- and another pure gold with an emerald in it. She finds the nest up in a tree in the necropolis outside the city walls and retrieves her father's signet ring and her bulla. She realises that the magpie must have stolen the ring and she uses her bulla chain to bait the bird, in hope of finding its nest. She finds a mark in the parchment like a bird's foot and sees a magpie at the window. (The above text is an extract from the blurb.) Plot Synopsisįlavia Gemina's Father Marcus Flavius Geminus loses his deceased wife's signet ring so Flavia tries to find it. Their investigations take them to the harbour, the forum, and the tombs of the dead, as they try to discover who is killing the dogs of Ostia, and why.' The theft of her father's signet ring leads her to three extraordinary people - Jonathan, the Jewish boy next door Nubia, the African slave-girl and Lupus, the mute beggar boy - who become her friends. 'In Ostia, the port of Rome, Flavia Gemina, a Roman sea captain's daughter, is about to embark on a thrilling adventure.

The thieves of ostia by caroline lawrence