There Was A Roman in Your Garden …..

 This is my summer reading. 

The press release tells me that, “It’s your LUCKY day! You’ve stumbled across an ancient treasure chest in your garden that was buried THOUSANDS of years ago by a child living in ancient Rome. 

And the chest is packed with 20 strange and curious items that tell us so much about their life, such as: Armour made of REAL crocodile skin, Twinkling TREASURE said to protect its wearer from evil, A fun game made of a PIG'S KNUCKLE, Evidence of the world's first PIZZA!”

So, I shall “Unpack the treasure chest and discover the objects that a child …. was using thousands of years ago. You’ll uncover fascinating facts and true tales about their school, family life, clothes, games, favourite snacks and so much more”.

It’s by “award-winning historian, broadcaster and bestselling author Bettany Hughes is here to dig up this newly discovered information for young budding historians everywhere”.*

I could quote more but the rest is all on the back cover, with of course all the Roman treasures contained inside the 215 pages of the book which costs £8.99.

I started it last night and was hooked.

As many know I still read kid’s books and regularly go back to the ones I read as child, from R.J. Unstead to the fictional ones by Rosemary Sutcliff, Geoffrey Treese, Henry Treece and Conan Doyle with a sidesway swipe at Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill.

Nor am I alone because I remember one of my English teachers confided to me that in term time that was all he read. 

*There Was A Roman in Your Garden, Bettany Hughes, Puffin Books, £8.99, available from Chorlton Bookshop, 506 Wilbraham Rd, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW, 0161 881 6374, https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/chorltonbookshop