Nick Brown has an extensive background teaching and writing in the field of archaeology and ancient history and has taught and studied at Leeds and Manchester universities. Brown later taught at a number of Manchester schools, where he experienced first hand the racial tensions plaguing the area. At one of the schools a pupil was stabbed to death in the playground, an event which Brown has described as ‘life changing’. He moved to Oldham to work for the council, advising schools and planning a reconstruction of a Romano-British Villa with Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit. Soon after arriving, he was asked to take over the headship of an Oldham school where a pupil had been killed in a racially-charged shooting. Brown later became Principal of a new Sixth Form college, set up by Oldham council in an attempt to instill a multi- racial ethos. In his 20 years there the college became one of the most successful in the country, and Brown has been awarded an OBE for his work. Since leaving the school, he now devotes his time to writing. This is Brown’s debut novel and is the first in a series set in the fascinating and tumultuous 5th Century BC Athens.