Her name was Auriane, known to her people as The Light Bearer, she was an extraordinary woman in an extraordinary time…

Auriane, warrior maiden of the Chattian tribe, was sword to remove the cursed Romans from the lands of the Rhine . Then fate intervened: she was captured and brought to Rome in chains, and trained to fight in the arenas as a gladiator – only to fall in love with a Roman aristocrat, Marcus Arrius Julianus.

Marcus and Auriane have lived in tranquillity for the last seven years, and Auriane has delighted in raising her two daughters on Marcus's grand estate. But now her birth fate is poised to claim her, in a way that will rend her family part. Auriane loves Marcus – but unknown to him, she is a traitor to Rome .

Roman law forbids the Chattian tribe from having weapons or the means to buy them. Plundering her husbands' coffer for nearly a decade, Auriane has provided her people with enough wealth to arm themselves against the legions invading their land. But Auriane's betrayal had been discovered, and should word of her duplicity reach the Roman authorities, her life – and the lives of her family – will be forfeit.

Torn between her love for Marcus and her duty to the Chattian warriors. Auriane must decide whether to surrender her spirit to Rome – or to once more lead her people into battle against any and all who would oppress them…

"Lady of the Light" is, of course, the long-awaited sequel to Donna Gillespie's magnum opus The Light Bearer. Long-awaited is an understatement – this is a book many have been waiting some 13 years to read, so the first question has to be “was it worth it?”

The answer is an unqualified “yes.” Lady of the Light takes place some seven years after the events of The Light Bearer, furthering the development of Marcus and Auriane as they adjust to married life on the frontier. Gillespie adds to the domestic mix by bringing in the scions of house Julianus – Avenahar and Arria. Avenahar is, of course, the child of Decius, Arria the product of Auriane's marriage to Marcus Julianus.

The elder by four years, Avenahar is very much the spirit of her mother and for much of the book the focal point. Circumstances dictate that Avenahar must leave the family fold and return to the bosom of her tribal ancestors, and in time, become a warrior herself.

What Gillespie does with such aplomb is avoid the trap of making Lady of the Light simply a rehash of The Light Bearer, featuring “Auriane's daughter.” There is so much more to this multi-layered novel than a sequel would usually demand. Whilst it's true to say that Avenahar carries much of the action, there are plot twists a-plenty including Julianus's mission to take part in the Dacian war, the trial of the old Priestess, Ramis and the sinister lust of a Roman for the youngest of the Julianus Clan.

And of course, the trouble that Auriane manages to get herself into – the first and driving event of the novel.

Reviewers on Amazon.com have raved about this book, and gladiatrix.info is proud to add its voice to theirs. Lady of the Light is, in many ways, the perfect novel. Shorter than The Light Bearer, Lady of the Light showcases a novelist who is just now coming to the height of her powers. Gillespie has proven here that The Light Bearer was no “one-off” success, and with the third and final work of the trilogy coming soon, it's a fair bet this series may well become the greatest work of historical fiction since Mary Renault's Alexander Trilogy.

As a visitor to this website, if you don't own The Light Bearer or Lady of the Light, then your collection is lacking. It's true to say that reading the first instalment was a life-changing event for this reviewer, and he's not alone in this. Quite simply, this is a "must own" series for not only fans of the gladiatrix genre but lovers of great historical and literary fiction.

Lady of the Light is available from www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com in the US.

For more on "Lady of the Light", visit Donna Gillespie's website at www.thelightbearer.com and www.donnagillespie.net