Boudica: Dreaming The Bull

Mar 13, 2026 6:29 PM

Author:Manda Scott

If you like Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, you will love this second book in THE SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Manda Scott's epic retelling of the story of Britain's great warrior queen.

"One of the boldest of recent adventures in historical fiction...Scott celebrates the mystic matriarchy of the British tribe with lush lyricism and story-weaving panache..." -- INDEPENDENT

"A cry for freedom cloaked in lyrical and sensitive prose." -- OXFORD TIMES

"Of the recent historical novels set in Roman times, this is the best one I've read." -- MAIL ON SUNDAY

"So well written and atmospheric that you are 'there' along with the characters. Plenty of development of the main characters from the first book, lots of suspense and page turning action." -- ***** Reader review

"Amazing writing, spellbinding, transporting... History and fiction woven together in a memorising way and creating a real and vivid picture of life in Britain 2000 years ago. Highly recommend it!" -- ***** Reader review

"Every book in the series has you on the edge of your seat. It makes you laugh and cry, love and hate. In fact be prepared to experience every emotion." -- ***** Reader review

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THIS IS A HEART-STOPPING STORY OF WAR AND PEACE; OF LOVE, PASSION AND BETRAYAL; OF DRUIDS AND GODS IN A WORLD WHERE EACH LIFE IS SACRED BUT EACH DEATH EVEN MORE SO...

In AD 60, Boudica, war leader of the Eceni, led her people in a final bloody revolt against the occupying armies of Rome - the culmination of nearly twenty years of resistance against an occupying force that sought to crush the vibrant native civilization of our island home ...

Dreaming The Bull continues the story of Breaca - now hailed Boudica, the Bringer of Victory, and her half-brother, Bán, now an officer in the Roman auxiliary cavalry.

Each stands on the opposing side in a brutal war between the occupying army and the defeated tribes; each is determined to see the other dead. Caught between them are two children, son and daughter to two of the greatest warriors their world has ever seen.

While in distant Rome, the Emperor Claudius holds the balance of lives in his hands....

Boudica's story continues in Boudica: Dreaming the Hound. Have you read Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle, the first instalment of the Boudica story?

Reviews

Utterly convincing and compelling ... a stunning feat of the imagination and an absolute must-read for lovers of historical fiction

—— STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Staggeringly imaginative ... Breathtakingly good, it reveals the best and worst in all of us

—— VAL McDERMID

An extraordinary work combining history and imagination. At times I was moved to tears, at others, immensely proud to be bred from a tradition that made warriors of women

—— JENNI MURRAY

One of the boldest of recent adventures in historical fiction ... richly textured, robustly plotted

—— Independent

A powerful novel, alive with the love, deceit, wisdom and the heroics of humanity

—— JEAN M. AUEL

Tess Callahan explores themes of love, loss and the scars life leaves on us in her painfully poignant novel April & Oliver. It is a lovely story. The characters are heart-rendingly believable as the pair struggle to find the seeds of who they once were and where exactly they went off the tracks. It's a tale of first love and the enormous depth of feeling left for someone who knows exactly from where each of your scars comes.

—— Lindsey Losnedahl , Las Vegas Review

Think of it as a summer read with benefits.

—— Daily Candy

The urgency of Callahan's narrative and its volatile juxtapositions--innocent passion and dark sexuality; duty and desire; first love and ruined love--make it impossible not to care deeply for these characters and their thwarted yearning and their heart-wrenching stories.

—— Bob Shacochis , National Book Award-winning author of Easy in the Islands

Grappling fates are the DNA of suspense, and Tess Callahan braids loss, longing, romance and violence into a tense, gratifying narrative. The characters in APRIL & OLIVER feel inexorable--either destined or doomed to be together. The need to discover which--and how--keeps the reader turning pages.

—— Sven Birkerts , author of Reading Life

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