This is from a cool site I recently came across somehow. (Link below.)

Author: Ruth Downie lives in the south of England, a region still shaped by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Her latest book is Caveat Emptor, the fourth in her series about a Roman Army doctor (Bloomsbury USA, 2010; to be published by Penguin UK, 2011 as Ruso and the River of Darkness).

Here's a bit off their website. They spotlight some really interesting books--not just Roman period, though:

Why a Politician Needs a Wife

Evidently Roman electioneers were not above a little sharp practice. Not only was voting carefully scrutinised, but when a shortage of suitable candidates was solved by publicly listing the names of all the eligible men, it was deemed necessary to stipulate that this must be done in such a manner that they can be read properly from ground level.

Less predictable, though, was the election tie-breaker. In the event of two candidates receiving the same number of votes, a married or engaged man took precedence over a bachelor. If that was no help, the issue was decided by counting each mans sons. The more sons, the better and, in a sad reflection of the times, there was also a system for calculating the worth of boys and girls who had died in childhood. Only after all this was taken into account did they resort to drawing lots.

They have three (3) copies of Caveat Emptor to giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment on the post on their site (below). Sorry, they can only ship winning copies in the US at this time. They have frequent giveaways, but the best thing (since I haven't won one yet) is the books they highlight. I am adding to my must-read pile!

Would you like an email notification of other drawings? Sign up for their giveaway email list by clicking here http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/02/why-a-politician-needs-a-wife.html .