Set in southern Spain in the First Century BC, Libertas introduces the people who live in the idyllic mountain community of Munda and the ancient Kemeletoi people who thrive in the surrounding countryside. But the world is ruled by Rome, whose generals have a score to settle - Julius Caesar has force-marched eight crack legions from Italy to subdue the sons of Pompey, and two huge armies will clash in the wide upland valley that stretches before Munda. The final, savage battle of a remorseless struggle for world dominance. A battle that will leave 30,000 dead and a community devastated. But there's an unlikely hero who refuses to give in to the despair and horror of war, who believes his family can be rescued from slavery, who refuses to accept that Roman cruelty and greed has changed his beloved Munda forever. This is a story of bravery, love, invention and hope.
"Forrest has the gift of the true story-teller the ability to engage his readers interest from the very first sentence." - Sir Patrick Cormack FSA, MP
"Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa, Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly." - Doug Jackson, best-selling author of Caligula and Claudius.
"Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand." - Lynn Guest, Historical Novel Society.
"I am in hog heaven with books like Libertas" - Nan Hawthorne, That's All She Read.