Hannibal

As Rome rose to power in the 3rd century BCE there was only one real rival in the Mediterranean-Carthage. In the First Punic War, the Roman legions defeated and humiliated Carthage. Now Hannibal, a brilliant young Carthaginian general, is out for revenge. Caught up in the maelstrom are two young boys, Hanno, the son of a distinguished soldier and confidant of Hannibal, and Quintus, son of a Roman equestrian and landowner. A disastrous adventure will see Hanno sold into slavery and bought by Quintus's father. Although an unexpected friendship springs up between the two boys-and with Quintus's sister, Aurelia-the fortunes of the two warring empires will tear them apart. In Ben Ken's Hannibal: Enemy of Rome, they find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict and an alliance forged through slavery will be played out to its stunning conclusion in battle. "A master of his discipline rightly hailed as one of the best historical novelists writing today." --Daily Express

Hannibal's campaign to defeat Rome continues. Having brought his army safely over the Alps in winter, he now marches south to confront the enemy. With him is a young soldier, Hanno. Like his general, Hanno burns to vanquish Rome. Never has the possibility seemed so likely. Facing Hanno is his former friend, Quintus, whom Hanno met while in Roman captivity. A bitter quarrel with his father led Quintus to join the Roman infantry under an assumed name. Among his legionaries, he finds that his enemies are not just the Carthaginians, but men of his own side. A stealthy game of cat and mouse is being played, with Hannibal seeking to fight, and Rome's generals avoiding battle. But battle cannot be delayed for much longer. Eventually, the two armies meet under a fierce summer sun in August in the south of Italy. The place is Cannae-the fields of blood. The encounter will go down in history as one of the bloodiest battles ever fought, a battle in which Hanno and Quintus know they must fight as never before-just to stay alive.

In 213 B.C., as the forces of both Rome and Hannibal's army from Carthage are still reeling from the losses at the Battle of Canae, the second Punic War rages on. With more and more of Rome's Italian allies switching allegiance to Carthage, the stakes continue to increase. When the major Sicilian city of Syracuse defects to Hannibal, Rome sends all that it has to retake the city. Now, outside the nearly impregnable city walls, a vast Roman Army besieges the city. Inside the city, tensions and politics are an even greater threat. Two men-once boyhood friends, through circumstance now find themselves fighting on opposing sides-are about to face each other once again. Caught between them is a woman. All three trapped in one of the most famous and brutal sieges of all time. Ben Kane's Clouds of War is a vivid, exciting, and very human novel about one of the most defining conflicts in history, seen from the very top, where the generals make bold gambits, all the way down to the very bottom, where the people who are caught in the crossfire are trapped.