Bid on a signed copy of LUCIA to help a great cause!

One of my readers – Mike – made a post on Facebook the other day that caught my eye. His partner works in a school (Rhws Primary) and some vandals had wrecked the tipi (teepee!) that they use to give the kids a nice relaxing space to learn in. It looks like this tipi is really big and repairing it will cost a lot of money. They’re doing things to raise the funds and Mike’s partner managed to get some people from the TV and stuff to read a poem she’d written. It’s a brilliant poem, you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/100000164554886/videos/206983069149153/
Anyway, I said I would auction one of my books and donate any money raised to this brilliant cause. I decided to offer LUCIA – A Roman Slave’s Tale.

It’s the hardback edition and, to make it even more tempting, I’m going to include a few of the handwritten notes I made when I was planning and writing the novel. Obviously these are total one-offs, and they give an insight into how my mind works when I’m coming up with ideas for books!

If you’d like to bid on this, please put your bid in the comments on my Facebook post HERE.

The winner can donate to the Just Giving page and once the funds are through I’ll post the book.
I will pay for the postage if the winner is in the UK! If you’re outside the UK I would ask you to pay for the postage.
If you don’t want to bid on the book but fancy giving a pound or two to help repair the tipi you can find the Just Giving link here: https://localgiving.org/tipi

Thank you everyone, Merry Christmas and have a brilliant 2024!

LUCIA

“Lucia is a story that is at once desperate and uplifting, a story that touches you deep in your soul.” – Sharon Bennett Connolly, author of Silk and the Sword
What makes life worth living for a slave of Rome? The promise of vengeance, no matter how long it takes…
At eight years old, Lucia is torn from the life she knew. Her village burned to the ground and parents murdered by Romans, she is kidnapped, sold and shipped abroad to the Villa Tempestatis in Britannia to serve the young Roman army officer Castus. Faced with a bleak future of decades of servitude to her master, as well as sadistic brutality at the hands of his manageress, Paltucca, she finds herself fixated by one thought alone: vengeance.
Yet Villa Tempestatis, with its picturesque surroundings in Britannia’s green countryside, offers a life that’s a little easier than elsewhere in the Roman empire. The slaves form strong bonds of love and friendship, enjoy feasts and holiday celebrations together, and are even allowed, sometimes, to start a family. Many of them are happy enough with their lot. Despite that, every moment of Lucia’s life is blighted by her hatred for Castus and Paltucca, and only seeing them both destroyed will bring her a measure of peace, even if it takes decades of work and planning…
This standalone novel from the bestselling author of The Druid tells the tale of one woman’s life against a richly woven backdrop of love and hate, revenge and redemption, and is quite unique in modern fiction.

PRAISE FOR LUCIA
“Lucia…makes the reader re-evaluate the way they think and feel – and takes them to a depth of their soul they probably have never visited before. Steven A. McKay has written a truly riveting depiction of the life of a slave. If you only read one more book this year, it should be Lucia.” – Sharon Bennett Connolly, author of Silk and the Sword

“A compelling 5* story from McKay, an author who continues to amaze me with his writing.” – David’s Book Blurg

“McKay changes gear and slips easily into a different world and commands it from the start. This is the Shawshank Redemption of revenge stories.” – David N. Humphrey, author of Valguard – Knight of Coins

“An incredibly moving story that’s written extremely well. I highly recommend this book” – Endo The Road Book Reviews