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Donna Gillespie
38 ratings | 8 reviews | avg rating:4.95

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Donna Gillespie

Goodreads Author


Born
in Gainesville, Florida, The United States
July 21, 1948

Website

Genre
Historical Fiction

Influences
Mary Renault, Robert Graves ...more

Member Since
April 2012

URL


Donna Gillespie is the author of two historical novels set in first century Rome, The Light Bearer (Berkley/Putnam, 1994) and Lady of the Light (Berkley/Putnam, 2006). The Light Bearer has been translated into German, Dutch, Russian, Italian and Lithuanian. An international bestseller, it was optioned by Hallmark Entertainment for a miniseries. Her second novel, Lady of the Light, is the sequel to The Light Bearer, and is also available in German and Italian. Her love of historical novels began at age thirteen when she discovered Mary Renault's novel of ancient Greece, The King Must Die. She credits the novels of Robert Graves -- I Claudius and Claudius the God -- with her enduring interest in the culture and mores of ancient Rome. She has ...more

10 posts
Donna Gillespie's Blog

Here's to Modern Times, When Publishing is (Relatively) Easy

Recently I decided it was time to try out Amazon’s print-on-demand service, Create Space. It’s an appealing concept: One reader, one book. No inventory, no waste. I’d put it off too long: Only used copies of book # 1 (The Light Bearer) were available in the online bookstores, and since I’d rewritten the book for the e-book edition, that hoary old ’94 trade paperback edition was starting to feel li Read more of this blog post »
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Published on October 23, 2014 10:41 • Tags: cover-art, donna-gillespie, roman-fiction, the-light-bearer, women-s-lit
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.18 · 3,194 ratings · 264 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors
The Eagle and the Raven
by
4.19 avg rating — 1,825 ratings — published 1978 — 41 editions
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The Light Bearer (Auriane #1)
4.21 avg rating — 1,492 ratings — published 1994 — 21 editions
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Lady of the Light (Auriane #2)
3.95 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 2002 — 10 editions
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Aurinia la gladiatrice. La ...
liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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Mondfeuer: Roman
0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions
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La maledizione delle nove s...
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Lady of the Light Paperback...
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Toward a Multicultural Conf...
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0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
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More books by Donna Gillespie…

Series by Donna Gillespie

The Light Bearer Lady of the Light
(2 books)
by
4.17 avg rating — 1,801 ratings

Donna is Currently Reading

Fallen Land
Donna Gillespie is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
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Jan 31, 2015 12:25PM
A Trick of the Light
Donna Gillespie is currently reading
by Louise Penny (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
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Donna Gillespie Donna Gillespie said: " Another sparkling and deeply moving Louis Penny mystery. These are becoming highly addictive. Thank god there are 13 of them. But still, I'm running out. This one has it all -- humor, Agatha Christie-esque suspense, and an inside look into the word o ...more "

 
Feb 07, 2015 11:28AM  · see review
Quotes by Donna Gillespie  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“How quick, brutal, and fragile is life. You are born, you live a few years in wild hope, then you are dragged back into the night. You might have breathed on a little longer, had you not dared think yourself a human creature instead of an engine of muscle and bone.”
― Donna Gillespie, The Light Bearer
tags: fragile, humanity, life, wild-hope
6 likes
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“Better a spirit that does not quite fit in this world than one that is broken.”
― Donna Gillespie, The Light Bearer
tags: bend-don-t-break, spirit, unique
5 likes
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“Books are worse than wine, I say. You read one and you need another - there's no end to it. What ails you that you cannot content yourself with just living on under the sun?”
― Donna Gillespie, The Light Bearer
tags: addiction, books, wine
3 likes
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011: Reading Plans 55 341 Apr 01, 2011 09:54PM  
Fantastic Fantasy...: Recommend a book or series for a group read 50 91 Apr 12, 2011 05:27PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS) 2867 1117 May 31, 2011 09:01PM  
Reading the Chunk...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Contemporary Chunkster Nominations 178 149 Jul 22, 2011 09:17PM  
Ancient & Medieva...: The Anti Bodice Rippers Thread 313 413 Mar 11, 2014 06:46AM  
Ancient Historica...: Donna Gillespie 3 31 May 22, 2014 09:34AM  
SciFi and Fantasy...: "Are We Sexist?", Two - Discussion, Resources, and Author Suggestions 453 1305 Jan 01, 2021 01:19PM  
Around the Year i...: 05. A book by an author with two sets of double letters in their name 85 661 Dec 17, 2022 01:35PM  
Ancient & Medieva...: * Classical Antiquity (800BC-476AD) 273 705 Aug 21, 2025 06:46AM  

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