A historical novel set in the rome of the emperors, where loyalty and honor were matter of life and death At the height of the Roman Empire, a young boy is taken from his home in Palestine to be a slave to a patrician Roman family. But though the father of the house is obsessed with the boy, it is the son, Flavius, whose interest Saul returns. As years pass and the boys grow into men, their love will be tested, Flavius’ arranged marriage bringing a selfish and jealous woman between them. In a time when jealousy, honor, and rivalries were questions of life and death, how can a bare property like a slave protect himself? Will Saul manage to reach freedom, or will he become another victim? P. J. Mann’s 6th book, Aquila et Noctua tells a story of love across boundaries in ancient Rome, a deeply human tale from a place thousands of years and leagues away