Romans had different ideas about family and politics than modern people. For example, in this historical novel, I lost track of how many of the main and secondary characters had been taken out by poisoning, bludgeoning, or neglect. Mothers kill their daughters by walling them up in a room and listening to them starve to death, grandmothers gradually poisoning grandsons, and emperors get their jaws hacked off by assassins. Rank, kinship or success didn't seem to protect Romans from an inevitable and unnatural death. Riveting.