Author Description

It's a rainy day in 446 on the edge of the Roman Empire. Two men, both at the height of their powers, relax in a hunting lodge on Epsom Downs. Over wine, one of them, Ambrosius Aurelianus, asks his visitor, General Aetius, a crucial question: 'Did you have an affair with the Empress Galla Placidia?' The short answer is easy. The longer one, here set out brilliantly in the form of a conversation, diary excerpts, and letters from people close to the heady - and bloody - action of those troubled times, covers the love life and political intrigues of the last great Roman general. Wives, mistresses, umpteen children, plots, treason, murders, invasions, and a fierce relationship with Attila the Hun - the scourge of God. We hear, from the depths of time, the sly voice of the Roman-Briton priest, Gildasius, revealing the true story, while the author himself poses several questions: Should the lives of great men reveal their moral flaws? Was there such a thing as the 'fall of the Roman Empire'? And could the turning point have been Aetius' senseless assassination in AD 454? Closely linked to Intimate Memories is Virgilio Campos' fictional work of the same period, The Valkyries take the Warriors to Valhalla.