Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Shop small, give big!
With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.
Start gifting
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayThis audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreDreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.
Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg” ). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome—and triumph.
It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bàn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe’s history. Bàn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica’s salvation.
Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic -- where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed -- to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.
Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.
Manda Scott is a veterinary surgeon, writer and climber, not necessarily in that order. Born and educated in Scotland, she trained at the Glasgow Vet School and now lives and works in Suffolk, sharing her life with two lurchers and other assorted wildlife. She is known primarily as a crime writer. Her first novel, Hen’s Teeth, was shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize. The Boudica series are her first historical novels. They are, she says, the books she was born to write.
Reviews
“What’s amazing to me about this tale of Boudica, Britain’s legendary female warrior, is the pitch-perfect fluency with which Manda Scott brings it forth . . . like an eyewitness recounting real events that she saw and participated in. Her reimagining of this age, when the tribes of Britain clashed with the legions of Rome, includes interior monologues, multiple points of view, dreams, visions, ecstasies, and interlocutions with the dead, all of it utterly convincing and compelling. . . . A stunning feat of the imagination and an absolute must-read for lovers of historical fiction.”—Steven Pressfield, author of Tides of War and Gates of Fire“The first in an ambitious trilogy about the life of Boudica…. There is no shortage of juicy love triangles in all kinds of exotic configurations.”—Publishers Weekly
“Scott has written a suspenseful historical novel that will entertain fantasy readers and those looking for a strong character who can fight her own battles and still show her vulnerability. Oaths, loyalty, and tradition are at the heart of this imaginative tale.”—Booklist
“Scott weaves the stories of Breaca and Ban into a complicated and satisfying pattern. Definitely not a tired old retelling of a legend, this novel is beautifully written and lovingly told, filled with drama and passion. Scott takes great care to draw secondary characters and evoke the feel of first-century Britain. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal
“This is the best sort of historical fiction—exciting, full of a sense of how different times feel, and also intelligent about historical issues; Scott knows that at the point when historical events happen, they seem as if they are open chances.”—Amazondotcodotuk
“Hailed as the new Mary Renault.... A truly remarkable story full of wonderful atmosphere... Intensely exciting, a tale of passion, courage and heroism against huge odds, which is intensely moving.”—Publishing News (UK)
“Dreaming the Eagle is a powerful novel about Boudica, one of the most intriguing and mysterious women in history. Scott as done her research, and the mix of real images and her imagination has created a completely believable world. Her characters are so true to life that they all but jump off the page, and the story is alive with the love, deceit, wisdom and heroics of humanity. Read it and enjoy!”—Jean M. Auel, bestselling author of The Shelters of Stone
“A masterpiece of historical fiction, Scott’s richly detailed novel brilliantly captures the driven, passionate soul of the Celts. The lyric prose captivates, the characters ensnare. In Scott’s talented hands, the legendary Celtic queen Boudica breathes, lives, and absolutely rivets.”—Karen Marie Moning, author of The Dark Highlander
“Manda Scott has created a book to stir the hearts and souls.”—Leslie Forbes, bestselling author of Fish, Blood and Bone
“Boudica is a staggeringly imaginative invocation of Britain’s secret history. Manda Scott has created a fictional universe all of her own, but close enough to our reality for it both to warm and break our hearts. Breathtakingly good, it reveals the best and worst in all of us.”—Val McDermid
Praise for Manda Scott:
“A new voice for a new world . . . and it’s thrilling.”—Fay Weldon Expand reviews
Give audiobooks, support local bookstores!
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks