Alberix the Celt Book 1: Weep the Long Sorrow
“In the spring of 58 BCE the Celtic tribe of Helvetii, then settled in present-day west -central Switzerland and pressured by Germanic tribes from across the Rhine River, voted to migrate to lands in Gaul near the Atlantic Ocean. Gaius Julius Caesar opposed their passage through a Roman province, subsequently defeating an army several times larger than his available legions. In eight campaign seasons, Caesar made Gaul part of Rome’s growing empire: Roman institutions of government, law, and customs were veneered onto those of the Celts. The Gallo-Roman culture that prospered formed the matrix for much of modern European civilization. That long ago Helvetian decision was the determining factor in ending a millennium of Celtic dominance in Europe, yet the Roman conquest assured that when devastating barbarian invasions erupted in the third to sixth centuries, those Germanic and Gothic tribes eventually would become Latinized. This novel personalizes the Celtic struggle against Caesar by those tribesmen who opposed him, those who supported Rome, and of the legion commanders who believed that bringing Romanitas-their concept of civilization-to the known world was the sacred destiny of Rome.”
Albert Noyer’s novels are set in mid-first-century BC in Gaul against the backdrop of Julius Caesar’s ongoing conquest of that land. In Book One, Weep the Long Sorrow, readers are introduced to young Alberix, son of a clan chieftain and nephew of a Druid priest. When Alberix’s father is killed during a German raid, the family flees to another village, where Alberix’s aunt weds the local chieftain, but the family’s attempts to settle into their new surroundings are forever threatened not only by looming German raids but also by the growing factor of Julius Caesar and his Roman legions.
Noyer very expertly handles a complex tangle of plots and a large cast of well-drawn characters, and Vercingetorix ends up playing a pivotal role in Alberix’s fortunes.
Noyer’s painstaking research is obvious but not intrusive on virtually every page. He portrays the world of the Gauls as full of unflinching violence but also a satisfyingly drawn element of doomed heroism.
Recommended.
