Terra Incognita sequel to Medicus to be released in March

I was thrilled to see that Ruth Downie will be releasing a sequel to her excellent debut novel Medicus in March:

"It is spring in the year 118, and Gaius Petreius Ruso has been stationed in the Roman-occupied province of Britannia for nearly a year. After his long and reluctant investigation of the murders of a handful of local prostitutes, Ruso needs to get away. With that in mind, he has volunteered for a posting with the army in Britannia’s deepest recesses—a calmer place for a tired man.

But the edge of the Roman Empire is a volatile place; the independent tribes of the North dwell near its borders. These hinterlands are the homeland of Ruso’s slave, Tilla, who has scores of her own to settle there: Her tribespeople are fomenting a rebellion against Roman control, and her former lover is implicated in the grisly murder of a soldier. Ruso, filling in for the demented local doctor, is appalled to find that Tilla is still spending time with the prime suspect. Worse, he is honor-bound to try to prove the man innocent—and the army wrong—by finding another culprit. Soon both Ruso’s and Tilla’s lives are in
jeopardy, as is the future of their burgeoning romance.

Terra Incognita shines light on a remote corner of the ancient world, where Ruso’s luck is running short—again."

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni reimagines epic of ancient India

"A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of the wife of an amazing man.

Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.

The novel traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate."

Scheduled for a February 2008 release.

Song of the North by Jules Watson

"Roman Britain, 366 AD: Minna, an eighteen-year-old Roman serving girl, leads a quiet life with her grandmother, a Celtic herbal healer. But when her beloved grandmother dies, Minna must make a difficult choice--marry a man she loathes, or venture out alone to track down her brother, a soldier in a Roman garrison stationed in the wartorn and wild Scottish borderlands.

Desperate to find her brother, Minna falls in with Cian, an aloof but charming young acrobat. A terrible mistake thrusts the pair into slavery in the wilds of barbarian Scotland, where the Romans wage war on the violent, blue-tattooed Picts in Eastern Scotland. Cahir, King of the Dalriadans of western Scotland, is caught in the middle of a war that will seal the fate of the Scots. Year by year, Cahir has watched in shame as his people fall under the Roman yoke. Now Cian and Minna, unwilling prisoners at Cahir's fort, must fight for their survival. And despite her loyalties to her Roman blood, as the war for Scottish freedom unfolds, Minna struggles against another force--an irresistible call of her blood that reveals a destiny she shares with the wounded king Cahir, and which binds her inevitably to the people who have enslaved her."

This is book three of a trilogy that also includes The Dawn Stag and The White Mare.