Bloodlines

Bloodlines is a historical novel set during the last thirty-seven years BCE. (Before the Christian era) It begins with Herod’s victorious siege of the Temple in Jerusalem and the capture and execution of the last Hasmonean king.
It brings to life Herod’s preoccupation with construction, his many wives, the court intrigue surrounding him, and the paranoia that he develops after an assassination attempt.You can almost smell the sea, and feel the bitter rain as it stings the faces of the combatants as the Battle of Actium rages between Octavian and Mark Antony.The victorious Octavian, now called Augustus’ and his general Agrippa hold unprecedented power and scheme to retain it. A tender love affair between Tiberius, Augustus’’ step son, and his wife Vipsania, Agrippa’s daughter, is ripped apart by the death of Agrippa. Augustus insists that Tiberius divorce, and marry his father-in-law’s unfaithful widow Julia, causing an irreparable rift between the Imperator and his adopted son and heir.
Maryam, the unknown daughter of the deposed King Antigonus, is raised secretly outside Jerusalem by a Temple priest named Zechariah. She falls in love with her childhood friend, Alphaeus but is ripped apart from him when her identity is discovered by Antipater, a son of Herod, who kidnaps her, impregnates her, and claims her as his bride. This is the first novel of The Tarsean Trinity series.