On Rome's northern frontier amongst the fierce and hostile Gallic tribes, Flavius, father, Roman patriot and veteran of Telamon will do anything to protect his wife and children from the savage war that is soon to come to the heart of Italy. In Carthage, Gisgo, proud warrior prince of Numidia, restless and broke - joins Hannibal's mercenary army on its epic five-month march to and across the Alps in search of a fortune to repay his crippling debts.

It is spring 218 BCE. The greatest war the ancient world has yet witnessed is about to engulf the western Mediterranean. A conflict that will pit duty to country and family against a lust for fame and wealth and decide the future course of the Western world. In Rome the senate has demanded retribution for the fall of Saguntum, an allied city, putting them on a direct collision course with the proud, merchant masters of Carthage. As war between the two Mediterranean super powers becomes inevitable, two men, Flavius and Gisgo, shaped by circumstance and tradition, will be swept into the furious battle for supremacy from which they will find that they cannot escape.

"In Defence of the Walls of Rome" is book one in the "Soldier of the Republic" series