 ‘The Monstrous Regiment of Women’ Wikipedia defines women’s history as follows, ‘Women’s history is the study of the role that women have played in history, together with the methods needed to study women. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman’s rights throughout recorded history, the examination of individual women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women.
Inherent in the study of women’s history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, woman’s history is often a form of historical revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus.’
 Women history graduates Hm. Maybe I haven’t drunk enough coffee this morning, and there’s a lot to unpick in those sentences, but I read it as if a favour is being granted; “Let’s allow the girls to have a whole section of history to themselves. They’ll be able to go off and write serious stuff that other girls will love and it will keep them out of our mainstream hair.”
When I was younger and questioning the under-representation of women and the male dominance of history, heroines such as Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale were quoted at me as strong, exceptional, female models.
 Exceptional.
Exactly.
The unremarked lives of other women, duchesses to beggars, who made up fifty per cent of the population, were treated as peripheral and confined to traditional women’s auxiliary roles as wives, mothers, sisters, servants.
Both historical accounting and public awareness of history are moving on; it would be harsh to say otherwise. In the media we have the splendid Mary Beard, Bettany Hughes, Lucy Worsley and Alice Roberts among others leading us into grand sweeps and minute details of places and lives of both women and men. But even with women talking about life and death in Rome, Socrates in Athens or Kensington Palace and British crime, are we much further on?
 You may remember the virtual attacks on Professor Mary Beard for not confirming to female norms in respect of appearance and behaviour?
Her clever and often witty insights into past lives and her wealth of knowledge were ignored in torrents of spite about her hair, clothes and teeth and the fact she had spoken out at all. Vicious and rather sad. But Professor beard has – luckily for us – gone on from strength to strength in her mission of informing us and challenging us all about ordinary women’s lives in the past.
Almost unbelievably, Caroline Criado-Perez (far right) was told to ‘shut up’ and threatened with rape when she campaigned for at least one female historical figure to be portrayed on UK bank notes as Elizabeth Fry was to be dropped from the £5 note. Happily, Jane Austen appeared on the £10 note from 2017 but even in the 21st century, it’s depressing to see that in some quarters traditional male attitudes to female speakers and active participants in life are still welded to ancient roots. (And yes, that is Mark Carney, the current Canadian prime minister when he was governor of the Bank of England.)
 In brief, there are two strands here: the historical account itself and dissemination of that account. Perhaps this is where ‘good’ historical fiction comes in, ‘good’ meaning meticulously researched and well written: no fictional spouses; no anachronistic food or clothes; no characters saying ‘great’ or ‘no way’ in response to a suggestion in the seventeenth century; muskets and spathae in their correct wars.
 Works of fiction are by their nature made up, or fictionalised versions of known stories. Historical fiction in the hands of a competent writer can fill out the known account and suggest logical developments even when there are very few substantiated facts. Sarah Johnson from the Historical Novel Society produced some thoughtful guidelines to what historical fiction is, and can do. Although written in 2002, they still provide a helpful definition.
A rich collection of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about women’s roles in the past can be found on the HNS site under the search category ‘women’. A number are about remarkable women, because their lives are more or less documented, but others include or even focus on ordinary women and trends around their lives.
 Historical novels are an increasingly popular genre with readers, and more women’s stories set in the past are being portrayed by, for instance, Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabaldon, Amy Tan and Tracy Chevalier. Making women as present as men in historical events and stories should be the norm.
 While it isn’t possible for every female historical protagonist to be a kick-ass heroine like Buffy the Vampire Slayer – women and men both live within the context of their time – writers are bringing forward more positive and active representations of women as courageous, decision-making and resilient. And stories of known events, but from a female point of view, are filling the real and virtual bookshelves.
Historical fiction also reflects values and concerns prevalent at the time of their publication. Perhaps that’s another reason why interest in women’s historical fiction is now growing.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 International Women’s Day is a moment to celebrate women’s achievements, recognise the struggles that shaped them and look ahead to the work still to be done.
Across the world, some women have stepped into leadership, challenged expectations and reshaped societies.
Stories remain one of the most powerful ways to explore what courage, resilience and ambition could look like in practice.
This is one reason the world of the Roma Nova series resonates with readers. It imagines a society founded by Romans who refused to surrender their religious and cultural independence and who built a state where women would over time hold authority, lead armies and govern a nation. It is not a utopia. Like the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, it has its fair share of politics, danger, greed and ambition. But crucially, it’s a world where women’s visibility and power are natural rather than questioned.
For International Women’s Day, that feels especially relevant.
Roma Nova’s women shoulder responsibility, make difficult decisions and accept the consequences. Their strength is not simply physical or political; it lies in their determination to protect their people and their values.
Take Carina Mitela, the heroine of INCEPTIO, CARINA, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO. Carina is forced to flee from her homeland to Roma Nova – a society strange to her. She must learn quickly who to trust and how to fight back. Her journey is one of identity and courage where she discovers what she is capable of achieving.
Carina represents a familiar challenge for many women: stepping into roles that feel daunting, unfamiliar or overwhelming. She learns that leadership requires persistence, emotional resilience and the ability to make choices especially when no option is perfect.
Aurelia Mitela, Carina’s grandmother, is a master, no, a mistress of strategy and long-term thinking. She understands that political power requires patience as well as strength. Her influence and actions show how experience, wisdom and sheer grit can shape a nation’s future.
Julia Bacausa in JULIA PRIMA demonstrates another form of courage. Caught in the harsh consequences of religious conflict, she carves out her own path, sometimes obeying her society’s norms, but sometimes not! But she learns a great deal along the way. She won’t put up with any nonsense, though, something she leaves as an inheritance to her daughter Lucilla in EXSILIUM.
Across the series, women lead intelligence services, command security forces, manage government and defend their country. Their authority is accepted as normal – perhaps the most radical idea of all. Because when women’s leadership is treated as routine, the focus shifts away from whether they belong there and towards what they actually do.
International Women’s Day often highlights pioneers – the first woman to do this, the first to achieve that. These achievements deserve recognition. But the goal is a world where women’s presence in leadership at any level no longer requires special comment.
Roma Nova offers a glimpse of that possibility. The women of Roma Nova succeed not because the path is easy, but because they refuse to give up when it becomes difficult. That message feels particularly powerful today.
 Victory Around the world, women continue to push boundaries in every field. They run countries, lead global companies, command space missions, drive scientific breakthroughs and create cultural change. Many women run charities, schools and small, local businesses. Yet progress is uneven and barriers to visibility, let alone leadership, still exist for many women.
Stories help us imagine alternatives. They allow us to explore what might happen if societies were built differently, if talent mattered more than gender and if courage, intelligence and competence were the only qualifications required for leadership.
The Roma Nova series asks a simple question: what if a state had evolved where women normally held power?
The answer is not perfection. It is complexity, ambition and humanity. Women in Roma Nova make mistakes, face criticism and encounter opposition. But they continue to lead, to protect their people and to shape their nation’s destiny.
And that, perhaps, is the spirit worth celebrating on International Women’s Day.
In reality, women have always led, innovated and defended what matters most, but in a covert or subtle way. Sometimes history recorded their achievements; more often, it overlooked them. Although, thankfully, research continues to unearth hidden ‘herstory’, fiction can take us much further along that road by imagining what could be so.
And once we imagine, then we have set a goal for ourselves to pursue in the real world.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 Caius Tellus The morning after the power grab by Caius Tellus on the night of fires in INSURRECTIO, people woke to find the proclamation below. The new regime had pinned it on noticeboards, on the doors of public buildings and in the forum in Roma Nova city.
By order of First Consul Caius Tellus
Due to the national crisis, the provisional government will apply the following emergency orders for the next 30 days.
- All citizens must be indoors by 21.00 and will not leave their homes before 05.00.
- We will respect citizens’ rights but anyone instigating or committing a breach of these orders will be punished severely.
- All orders given by the civil authorities or their authorised representatives are to be strictly obeyed.
- Personal ownership of all rifles, guns, revolvers, daggers, sporting guns and all other weapons whatsoever including training blades of every kind together with any ammunition is now illegal. However, citizens have until 18.00 tomorrow, 7 October, to surrender any such items currently in their possession to the nearest vigiles barracks. Discovery of failure to do so will result in summary imprisonment even after the expiry of these emergency orders.
- All service personnel on leave must report to the nearest military barracks by 18.00 tomorrow, 7 October.
- No boat or vessel of any description, including any pilot, fishing or tugboat, shall leave the river harbours or any other place where same is moored without an order from the local Curia office.
- All international flights and cross-border rail services are temporarily suspended and all road crossings are strictly controlled. Expect long delays for verification which will only be granted in exceptional cases.
- Foreign citizens in Roma Nova will be respected, but should remain in their hotels or residences until they have either registered and obtained a permit to stay from the local Curia or applied for an exit visa. These will be issued via their national legations.
- Emergency services including doctors, veterinary and social personnel will be granted fuel and supplies subject to registration. Agricultural units and food suppliers will be granted movement orders and fuel subject to registration.
- For the time being, there will be no fuel allocation for private use.
- Food shops will remain open as before; increasing prices is forbidden.
- All television and radio organisations apart from the National Roma Nova Broadcasting Company have been switched off. Their male personnel will be integrated into the new national company and the female staff dismissed.
Signed this day 6 October Caius Tellus
Caius’s seizure of power had been very carefully worked out, even down to street level
He’d given each local Roman Nationalist Movement (RNM) organiser precise instructions about their role and goals. This was the main reason the coup was so successful so quickly. Checkpoints, curfew, house arrest, raids and detention by the RNM political troops acting in parallel with the civilian police, the vigiles, follows in the next eighteen months as Caius exerts complete and ruthless control. He reintroduces the death penalty.
Hand-in-hand goes the development of a “personality cult”
Photographs glorifying Caius as a ‘true Roman’ are hung on the walls of local and central government offices within days as well as at the Golden Palace, the traditional home of Roma Nova’s rulers. Wherever he goes publicly, he wears his black uniform with red mailed fist armband.
Widespread resentment and anger brutally repressed
New controls and content are introduced for children’s education. Sextus, a student and resistant, reports in RETALIO, political education is compulsory for males of all ages. Women are not required to attend; they’re excluded from secondary and tertiary education now and no longer considered full citizens. As Aurelia discovers, people obey on the surface but there’s a great deal of resentment and anger. Roma Novans aren’t fully immersed yet in the new ideological regime. However, although bitter at the previous weak government for letting this happen, they’re starting to adapt as they face new struggles in daily life.
Food shortages, confiscation and work conscription have become normal. Inevitably, a black market in food and other essentials develops. Open disobedience leads to reprisals and the risk of being sent to one of the new work colonies. But Roma Nova has not yet become a “denunciation” society even though Caius’s RMN political troops and auxiliaries actively encourage people to inform on neighbours, work mates and even friends. Unfortunately, a few suffer simply as a result of jealous neighbours or fellow workers.
The ordinary and familiar are overturned, values ignored
The experience of this sudden regime change and the harsh regulation, especially for women, is a deeply psychologically disorienting one for the Roma Novans. What was once familiar and safe has suddenly become strange and threatening. Many living in the city itself and the main towns of Castra Lucilla, Brancadorum and Aquae Caesaris can’t get over the shock they experienced when they first saw the huge red RMN mailed fist banners draped over public buildings and flying on top of the Golden Palace.
Internal occupation and dismantlement of the state
At the beginning of RETALIO, Roma Nova is not under foreign occupation as France was in our timeline in the 1940s, but under internal occupation as in Soviet Russia under Stalin. It takes fortitude to endure this day after day, and extraordinary courage to resist actively. Will that courage be ground down by fear and despair and the natural instinct of risk averse humans to reconcile themselves with the circumstances however miserable?
INSURRECTIO and RETALIO were published in 2016 and 2017 respectively, inspired by my research into 1930s Germany. They are fictional thrillers, but with a message. I just hope that we remember the danger that we could so easily step back into today.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO. The sixth, RETALIO, is due out on 27 April 2017. Audiobooks now available for the first four of the series
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
If you enjoyed this post, do share it with your friends!Like this:Like Loading...
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