Product Description

The daughter of a powerful desert cheiftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms....
"Bertrice Small creates cover-to-cover passion, a keen sense of history and suspense."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269856 in Books
• Published on: 1985-09-12
• Released on: 1985-09-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 480 pages

From the Inside Flap
The daughter of a powerful desert cheiftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms....
"Bertrice Small creates cover-to-cover passion, a keen sense of history and suspense."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Customer Reviews

Rapture!
This is not only my favorite Small book, but one of my favorite historical novels ever. The triumphs of Odenathus and Zenobia for the halcyon city of Palmyra are all but lost in history. Yet Small captures everything down to the smallest detail. In one graceful sweep small delivers an exquisite story of an admirable woman along with an excellent portrayal of the late Roman Empire. As a reader, I was pulled into the rapture. When I surfaced again, I was off to the library to research the historical Zenobia and her Palmyra. Personally, I can't think of a better effect a book can have.

Good, but not Great
Maybe it's just me, but I can only take so much drama before my eyes roll up inside my head, my brain explodes and I start rooting for the bad guys: "For the love of god, would someone just kill her already?"

This book was kind of like that.

Zenobia, god bless her, is a wonderful main character. She's smart, beautiful, witty. In fact, she's everything except lucky. First, her mother is raped and murdered. Then her husband is murdered. Her lover (Marcus) weds another woman, and Caesar her hated enemy, captures her and makes her his mistress.

But wait! It gets worse.

Her oldest son is a wimp. Her youngest son's a fool. Her friends are beheaded. Her city and everyone in it is destroyed. And while she goes a little crazy, she is still forced to bed the enemy because her daughter will be murdered if she doesn't. I think it was around the time Zenobia was forced to have sex in front of spectators I threw 'Beloved' out the window and haven't picked it up since. Oops.

My recommendation? IF you dig drama and angst... you'll love this book. If you don't? Read something else. And if you are bi-polar, OCD, or are presently taking medication for depression? AVOID AVOID AVOID. *wink*

Substance, not drivel, in this romance
From the moment of her birth, the stars and signs foretold that Zenobia, descendant of Cleopatra, would be blessed in love and in war.

"Beloved" takes place during the Roman invasions of Palmyra (in the Syrian region of the world). I don't know enough about history to know if this is accurate, but the story was good enough to keep me interested throughout. There are some tactical details which, surprisingly, tie in beautifully with the story of Zenobia's loves. Unlike many books of the romance genre, Zenobia's character is admirable not only for her beauty but for her intelligence. Sex notwithstanding, I would let an older teenager read this book.

"Beloved" surprised me because it was so well-written that it does not fall into a "fluff" category. This was a wonderful gift that was a good investment because I will read it again. I will seek out other books by Beatrice Small because I enjoyed this book so much.