The Daughter of Rome (The Emissaries)
Calandra helps her father create art for wealthy Romans. After delivering a statue to one of Rome’s four aediles, her father is tasked with a challenging request: a giant bronze statue to impress the fickle Emperor Nero. But when the great fire of 64 AD spreads across the city, Calandra’s father is injured while evacuating and loses his vision. Eventually, they are given shelter by a kind couple until the fires abate. When the aedile’s son Hadrian finds Calandra after the devastation, the two cannot hide their feelings for each other despite their social differences.
Afterwards, Calandra pledges to complete her father’s commission, but she has a new worry overshadowing her life. If discovered, it will shame her family, and the only person she can turn to is the kind Christian woman who provided her shelter. However, visiting her new friend becomes dangerous when Nero blames the Christians for causing the fire. They’re to be rounded up and executed in the Circus Maximus.
Calandra’s narration is in first person with all others being in third. This is helpful for clueing in readers when a perspective changes mid-chapter. Hunt intertwines characters from her previous Emissaries books together in The Daughter of Rome, though in small roles. The setting details are well-researched and stunningly recreated. Hunt’s prose is elegant and evocative (e.g., “the laughing crackle of flames”). As the city of Rome turns against the Christian population, Hunt movingly portrays the fear rippling through the community. The novel grapples with the most difficult questions of faith, particularly why good people suffer and die. The plot’s emotional undercurrent is deeply resonant as Hunt earnestly depicts how pockets of strength and love can be found even within the deepest of sorrows. I find this to be one of Hunt’s most impactful and touching novels.
