by Judith Tarr
First published 2000
Nicole Gunther-Perrin juggles her demanding law career with raising her young daughter as a single mother in contemporary America. Exhausted by endless deadlines and the relentless pressure of modern life, she makes an impulsive wish to live in simpler times. Her prayer is answered in the most literal way possible when she wakes up in ancient Rome, inhabiting the body of Umma, a tavern keeper in the bustling city during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Nicole must navigate the brutal realities of second-century life while desperately seeking a way back to her daughter. She discovers that survival in Rome requires skills her legal training never taught her, and that the past she romanticized holds dangers she never imagined. As she adapts to her new existence, Nicole faces an impossible choice between the life she knew and the world she has come to understand.
Genres: historical-fiction, fantasy, time-travel, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, impossible-choice
Setting: America, Rome
Period: Contemporary, Second Century
664 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Tor Fantasy