The eagle of the ninth

The eagle of the ninth is a piece of historical fiction written by Rosemary Sutcliff. The story narrates of a certain Marcus, a roman officer, a freshman. He wants to have a glorious carrier in the army and he is one of the commanders in charge of a fort in northern Great Britain. His mother has died when he was a little boy and he has always been living with an uncle and aunt he always hated. Nobody really knows what happened to his father. His father and the entire ninth legion disappearcombat and he is sent away for a long healing period. He goes to live with uncle Aquila, another ed some odd 10 years ago (this really happened! The entire legion just vanished). The first days of Marcus' command are not really relaxing. Marcus wins a bet by driving a chariot and their fort gets attacked by some rebellious British of the north. They resist the attacks but Marcus gets wounded in uncle he has who lives in Britain. In this period he enjoys the simple life with the friuts of theland. He goes to see the Saturnalia Games where gladiators fight and he ends up buying a fallen gladiator named Esca who had been spared by the crowd (thumbs up or down). Years pass and thanks to a special doctor his wound heals (even if he will never be able to return in the army) but he manages to recieve an assignment from the army. He must investigate on the lost legion...