First published 2018
Aristodemos stands among the three hundred Spartan warriors marching toward the narrow pass at Thermopylae, where King Leonidas will make his final stand against the massive Persian army. But when the moment of truth arrives, Aristodemos flees the battlefield, abandoning his brothers in arms to face certain death. He returns to Sparta alive while his comrades lie dead, earning him the bitter title of coward. The shame burns deeper than any physical wound as his fellow citizens turn their backs on him and whisper behind closed doors. His family bears the disgrace alongside him, and even children mock his name in the streets. Yet Aristodemos refuses to accept this fate. Driven by guilt and the need to reclaim his honor, he seeks a path to redemption that will prove his courage was not permanently lost at Thermopylae. His journey becomes one of inner struggle as much as external action, testing whether a man branded as coward can transform himself into the hero he failed to be.
Genres: historical-fiction, war, military-fiction, ancient-history
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: inner-struggle, redemption-arc
Setting: Sparta, Thermopylae
Period: Ancient Greece
494 pages · Print on Demand (Hardcover) · Franklin Classics Trade Press