Cassia, a young slave, has never known freedom. She has spent her life serving Mistress Helena, whose brutality has been increasing. With her son, Master Marius, away so much overseeing their shipping business, Helena has no one to tame her fury.
But the streets throughout the Ancient Rome empire aren’t safe for Cassia either. Christians are being found and taken to be executed by orders of Emperor Trajan and Pliny the Younger. When Cassia’s own mother, Livia, is taken to jail, Cassia is sure that all is lost.
When Master Marius returns home, he finds his household in chaos and people he cares about taken away from him. As a leader in his community, how can Marius share the Good News that he has found for himself and make a difference in the lives of the people he loves? And can he ever bring his mother the peace that she longs for?
In a time when Christianity is against the law, freedom is something that few can claim. But perhaps freedom is more easily obtained than any of them realize.
About
Shawn D. Smith’s passion for history has spurred her to use her vivid imagination to introduce readers to inspiring “friends” from the past. As she wanders through history, Shawn creates exciting stories surrounding historical events. In her blog, she also scribbles her take on the men and women who have bequeathed their rich legacies of faith to us. Shawn, her husband Dave, and their three daughters spent fourteen years as missionaries to Papua New Guinea. For more than a decade of that time, they lived in the primitive Simbai tribe. Then they served fourteen more years in the leadership of their mission before returning to serve in Asia, where they reside today. Shawn is an experienced homeschool mom, regular Bible study teacher, and popular conference speaker. With a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degrees in Education and in Library and Information Science, she is fulfilling her dream of encouraging others by teaching history through her stories. She blogs about her favorite heroes at scribblesbyshawn.com.