Return to Rome - by Mark Munro (Paperback)

About the Book

Seized from his home and condemned on false charges, Marcus cheats a gladiator's death in the Colosseum and flees. His prayers to be taken away from Ancient Rome are answered, and he's transported to 21st century Australia.

Book Synopsis

Marcus is lost in an incomprehensible world...

Seized from his home and condemned on false charges, Marcus cheats a gladiator's death in the Colosseum and flees to the Forum temples. His prayers to be taken away from the barbarous time of Ancient Rome are answered, and he's transported to 21st century Australia.

Marcus is lost in a harsh land, amid strange people and incomprehensible machines. In an outback town he meets Sabina, who pities the odd man who has never driven a car or used a mobile phone. She teaches him to survive in the modern world and they fall for each other.

Desperate to return to his family, Marcus embarks on a perilous journey to return home, to his time.

Review Quotes

What a cliff hanger to the end of this story! Surly, there has to be a follow up?

"Who would have thought it - that Rome would fall!" These remarks come from Marcus, the hero of Mark Munro's, Return to Rome, when he has been thrust into a future, two thousand years ahead of his time - far away from the horrors of being a sacrifice in the ancient Roman Colosseum. At first he finds himself in Quilpie in Queensland, and eventually makes his way to Rome. The story follows his travails and heartache of learning what has happened to him, and meeting and falling in love with Sabina.

It proves to be an interesting twist on time travel. The author uses many situations that arise to comment on present day Australia. - "I truly admire these people, their kindness, their outgoing nature, and their fabulous technology." When Marcus finds his way back to present day Rome, we are given a tourist eye view of the ancient places in Italy. When revisiting the ancient ruins of the Colosseum he wonders about the all the tourists lining up to see the ruins, - "Do they know the fate of those who entered the arena?"

A commentary on society sums up the author's observations and leaves the reader deep in thought - "Are people here truly different from those of my home and time?"

Judith Flitcroft, author of Walk Back in Time

"From barbaric, ancient Rome to modern civilization. Whisked through time by mystical beliefs, finding redemption along the way. Enthralling yarn, travelling through the ages."

- Vivian Waring, author of When Tears Ran Dry