Two tiger cub brothers are torn from the jungle and taken to Rome. The stronger cub is trained as a killer at the Coliseum. Emperor Caesar makes a gift of the smaller cub to his beautiful daughter, Aurelia. She adores her cub, Boots. Julius, a young animal keeper, teaches Aurelia how to earn Boots's trust. Boots is pampered while his brother, known as Brute, lives in the cold and darkness, let out only to kill. Caesar trusts Julius to watch Aurelia and her prized pet. But when a prank backfires, Boots temporarily escapes and Julius must pay with his life. Thousands watch as Julius is sent unarmed into the arena to face the killer Brute.

"'She felt dimly that the true power was to withhold the death stroke, to let the creature go when you could have killed it.' This observation by Aurelia, Caesar's daughter, aptly summarizes the central theme of Banks's (The Indian in the Cupboard) gripping, tantalizing examination of power, sacrifice and mercy. At the novel's start, two brother tiger cubs are taken from their native land and brought to ancient Rome. The older, larger one becomes a celebrated killer in the circuses held at the Colosseum, while the younger becomes the pampered and adored pet of Aurelia, who names him Boots. Aurelia's warm feelings soon extend to the cub's keeper as well, a handsome young slave named Julius. But even the novel's most idyllic scenes, set in the sheltered luxury of the Emperor's palace, are infused with a nearly unbearable slow-boiling sense of anxiety, thanks to the ominous shadow of the brutal circus. When Aurelia's weak and selfish cousin Marcus devises a prank to play on Julius and Boots, he sets into motion a series of events that forever changes the lives of the three youngsters and the tiger brothers. Thrilling in its compassion and tinged with bittersweetness, the novel's conclusion leaves plenty of questions enticingly unanswered, providing ample material for thoughtful readers to ponder. Ages 12-up. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

“…[a] gripping, tantalizing examination of power, sacrifice, and mercy.”

- Publishers Weekly, starred

Lynne Reid Banks is the bestselling author of many popular books for children and adults. She lives in Dorset, England.