The Beggar of Volubilis

The Roman Mysteries #14

by Caroline Lawrence

Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia, and Lupus are on a quest for the Emperor Titus to steal a valuable gemstone known as Nero's Eye. The Delphic Oracle prophesied that whoever owns the gem will rule the Roman Empire, so Titus is determined to claim it for himself. Flavia and her friends travel across the Roman province of Mauretania, from Sabratha to Volubilis—or modern-day Libya to Morocco. As they travel on a caravan across the desert they encounter slave-traders, pantomime actors, and a wild animal stampede. Along the way, the young detectives must also try to determine what has happened to Uncle Gaius.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Caroline Lawrence won a scholarship to Cambridge to read Classical Archaeology, then did a degree in Hebrew and Jewish studies at University College London. She now lives in London with her English husband and teaches Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Art and French to children.

Series:
* Roman Mysteries
Western Mysteries

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a young person's travelogue in historic Roman times, starting in Ostia and crossing to North Africa with a long caravan trip across the top of the Sahara to a frontier outpost where the governor tries to keep life civilised.

Flavia and her friends are mourning the death of a teenage wife in childbirth. I don't see this as being sufficient reason for them to run off to sail to Africa on a wild goose chase, without parents. The youngsters would all be potential slaves and the girls would not be safe from attacks. Read with a large pinch of salt.

The sights and sounds are well recreated for us and we can learn a great deal about life at the time, Roman pantomimes and some prominent Romans of previous times, including Nero, and several women including Cleopatra and Octavia. Also some good lessons about dodgy boyfriends. And camels. Nubia, the former slave girl, loves camels. Enjoy.
This is an unbiased review.

[Guo]

I didn't notice this when I first read this book as a child, but a few years later I realized this book contains several tropes with regards to travelling to that region... For example

Local chieftain offers to buy/marry fair-haired woman.

Local chieftain has several wives, and wive number 4 is only 9 years old.

Heads get chopped off, no questions asked.

(this one is positive) Hospitable locals. But there is always a downside.

People in some far-flung corner of the empire do not realize that the previous emperor has died and someone has replaced him. This is more general though.

Of course, a novel will become too derivative if too many of these are incorporated into one book. This one is still subtle enough to be readable, for a child at least.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm tempted to rate it lower, but I also can't help but admire the way the story is pulled along with just as much ingenuity as usual, the learning twists and small delights, and I am therefore willing to overlook the areas of bleakness that put me off, which I remember feeling about The Secrets of Vesuvius as well.

[Katie Gibbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turns out that the reason I don't remember anything that happens in this book is that in fact very very little happens.

[D.K. Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the super story that was book XIII, it was going to be a hard act to follow for Caroline Lawrence. She doesn't quite manage it with this outing but then there's a sense that this may be intentional. We're just three books away from the last in the series after this and at the moment I don't know how much the author intended that to be the case.

Was she like J K Rowling who had the ending planned all along and knew Harry Potter would always be seven books? Or did Lawrence just get to seventeen and decide the series had run its course? With my usual rule of finding out as little as possible about authors and books before I finish their books, I won't know until I get to the end of the final one, but my suspicions are brewing.

Why is this important? Because I feel this book is a 'calm before the storm' thing. Almost nothing happens with driving the larger plots forward. Everyone is still reeling from the tragedy of the last book and Flavia, the central character in this collection of Roman detective stories featuring four children, is still not quite ready for the marriage that's clearly on the horizon. From a plot point of view then, this whole book is effectively a prologue - we're building to some kind of climax.

In terms of the story itself, there's a certain degree of disbelief here. Our four young heroes are sent by the emperor himself to Africa on a dangerous mission to steal a precious gem. The mission itself gets even more dangerous when, soon after landing on the coast of Africa, their boat sets sail without them and they have to trek across the desert to get to their final destination. Even allowing for the fact that 'kids' of those days were more like young adults of today, this is an absurd mission. Titus would surely have better ways to obtain a much-wanted jewel. Then there's the fact that the parents of Flavia and Jonathan never seem to know where they are or what dangerous scrapes they get into.

What's more, this is the homeland of Nubia, the black slave girl Flavia saved and befriended in book I. I expected more of a story about her but it seems, in this world, Nubia is just as lost as the rest of her friends. I felt this should have been the ideal vehicle to bring her story to completion as we do need to start wrapping up the mysteries surrounding these kids.

All these criticisms being made, this is still Caroline Lawrence doing what she does and doing it well. As usual, you can't help but learn lots about the customs and culture of Roman society circa AD 80. Remembering this is YA/children's literature, you can suspend belief long enough to enjoy the ride. And perhaps, given the heartbreak and turmoil of the previous book, what we needed was a damned good yarn that stretches things a little bit. In a sense, this book will be judged by what comes next as we reach the end trio of books where so many strands need to be drawn in and sewn up properly together.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that this series is essentially about four children who manage to wander around the Roman Empire and solve mysteries together, this is definitely the one that needs you to suspend your disbelief a lot more. But that doesn’t make the story any less compelling.

This volume sees the four friends travel through Africa to the city of Volubilis to track down the mysterious Nero’s Eye so that they can bring it back to the emperor Titus. Along the way, they fall in with a pantomime troupe and have to come up with a plot to get the Eye away from the young woman who constantly wears it around her neck.

While quite a bit happens in this story, it had more of a filler feeling to it. The overall plot of the series doesn’t move forward all that much, except for the fact that it now seems like Flavia is going to marry Flaccus. I don’t know how I feel about that either.

But we shall see. I think I’ve only got 3 books left in the series now so hopefully I’ll get to the end by this weekend.

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a difficult time suspending my adult realism for this one. Firstly, the idea that Flavia would slip away on a ship to a different continent without her father's knowledge is super anxiety-producing. Secondly, the crew being left behind by the ship is literally the script of some of my most stressful nightmares, and I can't believe they handled it so well.

That being said, this is a good book in the series that continues to explore the complexities of human nature while teaching ancient Roman culture. What stood out to me in this particular story is the weakness of adult men ... Miriam, a 15 year old girl, met death in childbirth with dignity, and the adult men around her (her father and much-older husband) both let themselves use this as an excuse to succumb to their emotions, abandoning and/or ignoring those closest to them, focusing only on their own pain. I don't buy Uncle Gaius' redemption arc in this story.

[Eleni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The portrayal of grief and substance abuse at the start (ad throughout) this book is horrifying and realistic (which I think makes it so much harder to read), especially seeing poor Jason care for his father as though the parental/child roles were reversed.

FLACCAS SAYING HE LOVES FLAVIA PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE I literally screamed I couldn't hold it in oh my GOD I'M SO HAPPY I'm so excited to see the way this pans out.

I liked this! I thought it was a fun new adventure and kept the storyline feeling fresh and new, and I always love the way Lawrence writes in deities and religious beliefs in a respectful and believable way. Of course people living back then would hold such heavy beliefs of a greater being/s if there were so many signs.

[Kacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the library have definitely lost their copy, I cracked and bought one second hand.

This is definitely one of the more fantastical storylines in this series, but the madcap adventure was much needed after the heartbreak of the previous installation. These books are beautifully written and as the series progresses, gradually more mature themes are introduced. It astonishes me just how much historical content is crammed in. I've learnt more about the Roman Mediterranean reading these than I did in a term of university lectures...

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one more than any other in the series so far involved a lot of suspension of disbelief. It's crazy to think how the series has progressed from someone killing a dog in the first book to this. It was cool to see a new setting, although some of the descriptions of the way the African people live were a little... questionable. The plot, once you just decided to sit back and let it happen even though it was insane, was really fun.

[Niamh Spiers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one and the new setting it gave us! A plethora of fun characters (and of course, some horrible ones!) Am glad Gaius us redeemed at the end of the book as I wasn't too sure he was acting in character at the beginning. Can feel it slowly starting to come to a conclusion and excited to see how it plays out!

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't happy that the main characters were so willing to be thieves no matter whether it was at the direction of the emperor or not.

[Dee Paisley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good story teaching history and geography along with the culture and solving problems.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again a great easy read for kids with learning about the Roman Empire as well!

[Emily Dennehy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The detectives go to Africa! A great look at some of the other parts of the Roman Empire, but I did miss some of the secondary characters.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the highlight of The Slave-Girl from Jerusalem I was disappointed by this book. As the series heads towards the end I was expecting another more mature story but this felt like a childish adventure story in comparison as Flavia and her friends run away from home to Africa.

There were too many different plots to make the story successful, however as always Lawerence did an amazing job of brining Roman Africa to life.

[Hattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

With minimal exposition, Flavia and the gang hare off across Africa on camels in search of uncle gaius / a mystical emerald.

I could have done without the constant references to ‘ebony door slaves’

[shiqin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was found at the book street in ho chi minh vietnam. I absolutely loved this series as a kid and i still love it. safe to say i finished it in a day. Let the adventures of flavia gemina continue and let me find more second hand because i dont know where to find them.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the book that much.

[ChroniclesofTania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our adventurous four get a letter to go on mission for the emperor Titus to find a large and valuable emerald called the Eye of Nero in Africa. Conveniently the mission location is exactly coinciding with the last known location of her runaway uncle Gaeus in Volubilis, in modern Morocco. This is the book Flavia gets a marriage proposal from Floppy. Unfortunately she has made a vow of chastity to the goddess Diana after Miriam’s death from child birth. So she declines the proposal. Poor Flaccus takes it as a temporary thing luckily. He is very patient with precocious Flavia who is only a child of twelve. It’s disgusting how they selected children who weren’t teenagers yet for betrothals. Nowadays it’s paedophilic. In the last book Miriam died at fifteen as her body wasn’t fully formed yet for childbirth. The children’s ship sails from Ostia to Volubilis with their belongings and money and without them. So the children hitch a ride with another ship and that one goes to Sabbrath (modern Libya) where they join a pantomime troupe and join a camel train to Volubilis. They travel a month through savanna and dessert. Along the way Flavia gets a second marriage proposal to be child-wife five to a particularly revolting Arab sheik. Flavia discovers mirages, sandstorms, getting lost in the dessert while Nubia is in her element. When they get to Volubilis the children encounter a stinky beggar crawling with lice who tells them where her missing Uncle is. They discover that the beggar who has a patrician accent speaks many languages and was a scribe of emperor Nero. They also find the gem and make a discovery that the gem was used as a reading glass by Nero who didn’t have perfect sight. As with characters from previous books these ones aren’t what they seem initially, much like real people. Some turn out better and some worse.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not the most exciting of the collection, and it could have been. First off, it begins rather abruptly with Flavia and Nubia hunting in the woods and taking a sudden vow to never marry. Then we're launched into an African adventure that has lots of foreshadowing of what may happen. But any hints of ominous doings is pretty much glossed over with "it-was-coincidence" explanations in the end, and everyone goes home happy. The beggar does not play as big of a role as one might suppose, the gem is nothing especially mysterious or amazing, and the possibility of Nero being alive barely comes into play. In fact, the whole "major" plotline felt more like a sub-plot. In-between adventures take up most of the time, and even these are not very entertaining. Flavia gets lost in the desert in one of the most abrupt and random ways I've read in a long time. It was painfully obvious that the Author inserted this for action's sake. Nothing important happens, nothing exciting happens. Flavia has a dream that could have taken place without her having to get lost in the desert due to her own stupidity. Seriously - who comes back from a privy break, suddenly sees a vast expanse of water in the desert's distance, and decides to go chase after it? Especially when they suspect it might be a mirage?

Even when I was younger, I would have been disappointed with this volume. I can only hope that some of the events pertaining to Nero's Eye eventually resurface in later installments, thus justifying the lack of a satisfying ending.

[Matilda Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flavia and her friends have been summoned to Africa to find an emerald called 'Nero's Eye' which Titus, the emperor of Rome, needs to maintain power. It is said that whoever owns Nero's Eye is fit to be king, so Titus desperately needs it! Young Roman girl Flavia Gemina and her group of intelligent detectives are determined to find it if Titus's power is at stake. They travel with a pantomime dancer called Narcissus and his troop of musicians and singers on camels to perform for a large audience.

But the detectives are on the look for Flavia's Uncle Gaius, who ran away mad with grief, when his wife Miriam (Jonathan's older sister) died in childbirth. They perform for Narcissus in return for food and water for the journey. Their journey takes them to Volubilis where an old beggar that witnessed Nero's death told them correctly where to find their uncle.

There is something not quite right about power-seeking Narcissus, as sneaky Lupus soon finds out..

[Phair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a long time since my last Roman Mystery. This is #14 in the series and I had to forego reading #13 as I can't find a copy but after doing some catch-up via clues in this one I got up to speed on what's been happening to our four friends. This turned out not to be the best of the books by a long shot but the new North African setting was interesting. I always learn a few things I didn't know about the period and I like the way the kids are maturing. Most of the characters both central and peripheral are well drawn and usually multi-dimensional rather than cardboard. Looks like Lawrence is up to #17. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Can't recommend these highly enough for adult readers- they're too good to pass up. Wish they'd release the British TV series on DVD for US audiences.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miriams Tod ist an den Beteiligten nicht spurlos vorbeigegangen. Dr. Mordecai ist opiumabhängig, weil er den Tod seiner Tochter nicht verkraftet und Onkel Gaius ist verschollen.
Flavia schwört Diana Gefolgschaft, weil sie Angst hat, ebenfalls jung im Kindbett zu sterben und weist sogar Floppys Heiratsantrag ab.
Insgesamt noch mehr gespickt von Visionen und Zeichen der Götter als der Vorgängerband. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das wirklich toll finde, aber in diesem Band passt es und ist ein wirklicher Teil der Geschichte ohne so störend zu wirken wie in Band 13 Slave Girl from Jerusalem (Roman Mysteries).
Insgesamt ein guter Band der Serie mit interessanten und teils unerwarteten Wendungen, der jedoch nicht einzeln gelesen werden kann.

Zeitpunkt der Geschichte:
10 Wochen nach Band 13
28. Februar - 1. Mai 81 n. Chr.

[Emma Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, solid continuation of the series: while the quest storyline as in the fugitive from Corinth was a bit exhausted for me and I felt that there were some unsatisfactory loose ends and tantalising hints that I think will be left unsubstantiated, I was pleased to see further maturation in Flavia's character as she did initially pose a bit of an annoyance and showed some regression to her privileged ways and am left with renewed hopes most importantly as to FLACCIA as an endgame! I also enjoyed the opportunity to explore further sects of the Roman Empire and become engrossed in the Romano-African culture of the time.

[Nobi Nobes · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing! I loved it!

[Ujwals · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It was the first book of the series in which the setting is Africa. I liked how the author used a lot of facts about Africa, and accurately described aspects of life in that time such as camel rides, and pantomimes. This book really led into the next book, so I wanted to read it immediately. There was a whole side plot about pantomime dancers, and how the main characters disguise themselves, but I wasn't sure how that tied a up with the rest of the plot. Overall, a good book I recommend.

[Sarahelisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is towards the end of the Roman Mystery series and takes place in North Africa. The four friends travel in a caravan across the desert, looking for a jewel know as Nero's Eye. Like the other books there is so much background material and these have led to one of my children having a real interest in the Romans. Of course, everything turns out well for the four friends although some facets of the story are not resolved. Where is the jewel, at the end? Hopefully, we will find out in the next book!

[Vicki Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emperor Titus asks Flavia et al to go to North Africa to search for Nero's Eye, a fabulous emerald. They are also on the look-out for Flavia's uncle Gaius who has gone missing after the death in childbirth of his wife Miriam. After many travails across the top of North Africa, they wind up in Volubulis, near the northwest corner of Africa. The beggar of the title seems to have known Nero. Perils galore, as usual.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first began this series, the author came to visit my school. She is probably one of the people who first began inspiring me to write my own stories and become interested in the history of Antiquity. I began reading "The Roman Mysteries" series when I was in 4th or 5th grade. And I was still only learning English back then. But this long series did have an impact on me, and I stuck with it until the end.