Santiago Posteguillo

The highly anticipated continuation of a saga that began with Roma soy yo, Spain’s best-selling book in 2022, has now arrived.

Julius Caesar is no longer an inexperienced young lawyer but rather a real threat to the power of Rome. However, he is not the only danger. A brave Thracian named Spartacus will lead an unprecedented rebellion when a group of gladiators fulfil their dream of freedom of emancipation on the slopes of Vesuvius. Their insurrection will make one of Caesar's greatest enemies even stronger: the increasingly rich Pompey, who commands an invincible army.

In these fast-paced pages we are also spectators to Catilina's treacherous conspiracy and the appearance of an Egyptian princess, a girl of unusual intelligence named Cleopatra. In a short period of time, the destinies of various figures will cross paths and leave an indelible mark on world history.  

First instalment of the definitive saga dedicated to the man who changed the course of history: Julius Caesar.

When a senator, the dictator Sulla’s right-hand man, is put on trial on charges of rape, murder and corruption, no one in Rome believes that he will be convicted of even one of his countless crimes. The patricians enjoy total impunity because they control the senate.

Not only has the accused hired the best lawyers and bribed the judges, but he also has hired assassins at his disposal ready to kill anyone who dares to stand against him. As it is, no lawyer has the courage to present the case for the prosecution until a young and inexperienced patrician accepts the challenge. His name is Julius Caesar.

Master of the historical novel and with millions of copies sold, Santiago Posteguillo covers an almost unknown period in the life of one of the most studied and referenced men in history. An exciting novel where we become acquainted with the young Caesar, his love story with Cornelia, his beginnings as a lawyer and his ideal – not much more than an nearly impossible dream of youth – of building a more just and equitable Rome.

I am Rome recounts the extraordinary events that marked Caesar's destiny.

“Posteguillo contributes pace and objectivity to the legend of Julius Caesar.” El País  

“The greatest writer of historical novels in Spanish turns his attention to one of the most extraordinary of men.” El Mundo

The anxiously awaited part two and conclusion of Yo, Julia (I, Julia), which sold over 250,000 copies in only one year.

In their ascent to the throne, Julia Domna defeated adversaries, conspirators, generals, and even empires to get her beloved Septimius Severus crowned as emperor. But staying in power is a more arduous task than conquering it, and the gods, divided into supporters and detractors, have hatched a plan to challenge Julia to five tests no human would be capable of passing.

With impeccable historical rigour and the frenzied pace of a Hollywood screenplay, complete with battles, chariot races, betrayals, and stories of love, passion and incest, Santiago Posteguillo portrays the slow, cruel fall of Julia and her dealings with the gods to keep her family in power and ensure the good name of her lineage for posterity.

Planeta Prize 2018

An historical novel based on the life of Julia Domna, one of the most relevant, fascinating, and unknown female characters in the history of Rome.

Wife and mother of emperors, Julia Domna (170-217), of Syrian origin, was an outsider who captivated all of Rome with her intelligence and beauty. In her struggle to protect her family and husband, Governor Septimius Severus (who she shrewdly turned into an emperor), Julia faced turbulent times. She lived in an era of political and economic instability, marked by a succession of five emperors in scarcely five years, including the cruel and unpredictable Emperor Commodus. Meanwhile, the great empire was threatened by a civil war capable of undermining its very foundations.

“We assume that historian Mary Beard will be delighted with this novel as soon as she reads it. The author of SPQR includes Julia Domna among the ten most interesting personalities of the Roman world, and Posteguillo has now given her an indisputable aura.” Culturas, La Vanguardia

“Posteguillo is always a guarantee of certainty and respect for whatever he decides to take into literature.” La Razón

“Historical novels can be so thrilling, and Posteguillo displays such courage delivering such a feast of antiquity.” El País

 “A monumental novel, very exciting. Impossible to abandon such enjoyable reading.” El País

“The novel is an authentic spectacle, unremitting for the reader, rocked by adrenaline-fuelled action.” La Vanguardia

The third volume in the trilogy is La legión perdida (The Lost Legion). On its pages, the reader witnesses Rome’s most ambitious military campaign, the conquest of the East. This conflict involves four empires, and turns Trajan into something more than an emperor: he becomes a legend of the stature of Alexander the Great.

This long-awaited conclusion to the trilogy masterfully wraps up every story of love, betrayal and intrigue. We discover whether the gladiator Marcius and his family finally achieve their desire of living in freedom. We witness the inevitable betrayal of Hadrian, the emperor’s future successor. And we contemplate the final work of art by Apollodorus, Trajan’s architect, who builds the celebrated column that will illustrate his escapades for eternity, among many other stories that have delighted hundreds of thousands of readers.

In the year 53 B.C., Consul Crassus crossed the Euphrates to conquer the East, but his army was destroyed in Carrhae. An entire legion was taken prisoner by the Parthians. No one knows for certain what happened to that lost legion.

It is now 150 years later, and Trajan is about to cross the Euphrates. The Parthians await on the other side. Caesar’s troops hesitate, fearing the same fate as the lost legion. But Trajan is not afraid, and undertakes Rome’s greatest military campaign, to victory or disaster. Intrigue, battles, two adolescent girls, strange languages, Rome, Parthia, India, China, two Caesars and an empress all come together in the greatest epic story of the ancient world.

This is a story of Emperor Trajan and his government, wars and betrayals, incorruptible loyalties, chariot races, and impossible love stories. There’s a vestal virgin, a trial, encrypted messages, secret codes, pitched battles, endless sieges, gladiators, and three chariot races. There are forgotten ancient laws, human sacrifices, bitterness and terror, but also flashes of nobility and hope, such as Vesta’s flame, which protects Rome as it burns . But there are nights when the flame in the Temple of Vesta flickers. That’s when the wheel of Fortune starts to spin. At those times, anything can happen. Trajan himself is in mortal danger, although he doesn’t know it.

With his previous trilogy, focusing on Scipio the African and Hannibal, Santiago Posteguillo sold over half a million copies in Spain. This one is well on its way to surpassing those figures.

The morning of the eighteenth of September in 96 A.D. was the date chosen by a group of conspirators to murder Emperor Domitian in Rome. Meanwhile, in the northern frontier, three senators posed a difficult question to Traianus, governor of Germania: “If something ever happened to Emperor Domitian, what would you do?” Traianus frowned and remained silent. In the meantime, in Rome, everything has been arranged to kill the Emperor. Due to the praetorian guard’s defence and the Emperor’s own resistance, the plotter’s intrigue seems to be on the point of ending in utter failure, the novel rapidly flashes thirty three years back into the past.

Readers are then introduced into the Civil Wars that began in the final year of Nero’s rule, the construction of the Colosseum, the earthquake in Pompeya, the succession of Vespasian by Titus, Domitian’s revolt against his brother, and the final access to power by Domitian.

"How passionate the historic novel can be and what a courage displayed by Posteguillo to deliver such a feast of antiquity."Jacinto Antón, El País

"Posteguillo is the centurion of historical novels." Qué Leer

"Santiago Posteguillo has become the Spanish writer who best addresses the Roman Empire." El Mundo 

La traición de Roma (third volume of Posteguillo’s trilogy) is the story of Scipio’s son, who battles to be on par with his father, whom the Romans consider almost a God. But it’s also the story of Cornelia, a young woman who is the younger daughter of the conqueror of Hispania, who clashes with her distant father who is incapable of understanding the longing for freedom of an adolescent girl who is as intelligent as she is rebellious. The story of Marcus Portius Cato and his unlimited political persecution of the Scipios, and of Graco, his ally, inheritor of the power of the Sempronia family. It is also the story of Netikerty, a mother terrified by the war in Ancient Egypt; the story of Areté, a Greek prostitute too beautiful to pass unnoticed; the story of king Antioch III of Syria, blinded by the unlimited ambitions of his generals; the story of Leilo, always willing to stand beside his great friend Scipio, even beyond reason, or the story of Emilia Tertia, who doesn’t lose her dignity until the end, in midst of the greatest public and private disasters. With his usual electrifying prose, Posteguillo once more takes us to Ancient Rome and turns us into privileged witnesses of the decline of such an intense and unbounded life: the end of Publius Cornelius Scipio’s epic and of his world, in the incomparable framework of a Rome which emerges victorious over history, uncaring of the fact that in its unstoppable ascent it lays waste to all and sundry, including its heroes.

At the end of the 3^rd century BC, Rome is about to be annihilated by the Carthaginian armies. A few years earlier, Publius Cornelius Scipio was born, a boy destined to perform the greatest feats. Two empires, Rome and Carthage, and two of the best military strategists of all time, Scipio and Hannibal, engage in a series of epic battles that will change the course of history.

At the end of the 3^rd century BC, Rome is about to be annihilated by the Carthaginian armies. A few years earlier, Publius Cornelius Scipio was born, a boy destined to perform the greatest feats. Two empires, Rome and Carthage, and two of the best military strategists of all time, Scipio and Hannibal, engage in a series of epic battles that will change the course of history.

A journey through the hidden history of world literature

Many are the terrible circumstances under which books are written. Sometimes their gestation is surrounded by personal dramas, and sometimes they’re persecuted by experts in creating the perfect hells for creators. The KGB, the Un-American Activities Committee, fascist dictators, the Holy Inquisition… The purpose of all of these was to silence anyone who annoyed the powers that be due to their religion, origin, sexual orientation, language, or by simply wanting to express themselves freely.

Through thirty stories, this book shows some of those hells and how great writers from all time periods managed to overcome them. By doing so, we see how they left some of the best works in world literature behind for posterity. From ancient times to the 21^st century, from Europe to China, not to mention the United States, Latin America and Africa, we revisit stories by writers such as Horace, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, Pearl S. Buck, Carson McCullers, and Gabriel García Márquez.

The history of world literature can be fun and exciting.

A mainstream book about literature.

A delicious journey along the lines of La noche en que Frankenstein leyó el Quijote, covering some of the most curious and controversial enigmas in the history of world literature.

What led Pushkin to fight a duel to the death? Did you know that Virgil wanted to burn all of the verses in the Aeneid before anyone read it? And that Isaac Asimov was terrified of flying, and only did so twice in his life? Did you know that Pessoa had trouble finding a publisher, and that The Divine Comedy almost didn't get published? 

A host of true, documented stories showing the amazing intrahistory of many of the greatest books of all time.

Did you know that Harry Potter owes his success to an eight-year-old girl? Or that the followers of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes forced the author to bring their hero back to life? Or that the Gestapo tried to prevent the publication of Kafka’s works at all costs? 

In a series of short, chronologically structured stories, Santiago Posteguillo takes us on a charming tour of the most emblematic works in world literature, providing answers to some of the most famous and controversial literary enigmas in history.