"Boudicca’s Daughter" is an engaging work of historical fiction that breathes life into the shadowy corners of ancient British history. In this novel, Elodie Harper reimagines the fate of the Iceni princess, creating a story that is both richly detailed and emotionally wrenching. With vivid world-building, Harper captures the spirit of a young woman shaped by rebellion, loss, and resilience.

I appreciated Harper's skill in blending historical fact with creative storytelling. She gives voice to a figure who is essentially a footnote in Roman histories by crafting a heroine who is fierce and complex. The cultural and political tensions of Roman Britain—and the Roman Empire itself—are brought to life, transporting the reader from the misty forests of southeastern Britannia to the bustling, colourful streets of Rome.

I recommend it to fans of historical fiction, especially those drawn to stories of powerful women lost to time.

After reading the Wolf Den trilogy last year, Elodie Harper's new release has been one of my most highly anticipated books of the year. And I'm happy to say that, overall, it did not disappoint.

Boudicca's daughter is about the famous Boudicca, yes, but only for half of the story. For most of the book, we follow Boudicca's daughter, Solina, instead, who is heir to the Iceni tribe in Britain. While the beginning of the story showcases Solina's experiences participating in her mother's rebellion, the second half focuses on her experiences as a captive of the Roman legate Paulinus, who takes her prisoner and brings her back to Rome, where she serves as a slave for the infamous emperor Nero and his wife Poppea.

I felt this way about the Wolf Den and I felt the same way here, but Elodie Harper is excellent at bringing the ancient world to life in a way no other historical fiction author I've had experience with is. There's something about the way she describes Roman housing and clothing and food and lifestyle that just makes me feel like I am THERE. Her descriptions of the setting are perfect - lush and detailed without slowing down the plot or making the story feel boring.

The structure of this book was really different and interesting. The first half of the story alternates POVs between Solina and her mother Catia (Boudicca) as the Iceni rebel against the Roman forces. After Catia is killed, the rest of the novel alternates POVs between Solina and Paulinus, Solina's Roman captor. Solina's chapters are always in first person, while Catia's and Paulinus's are in third. It's certainly a type of story structure I've never experienced before, but I didn't necessarily dislike it. The only thing I will say is that it did make this book feel a bit long, and it also started to feel like two books had been sort of smushed into one.

The pacing is really good in some places and also a bit off in others. There are some really important historical events included in this story (including Boudicca's death, Nero's assassination of Octavia and Poppea, and the assassination of Nero himself), but all of these things flash by so quickly that they end up feeling like they are happening in the background of the story. This would make sense if the characters themselves weren't heavily involved in those events, but Harper situates Solina and Paulinus so that they are! I think there were some places where things could have been slowed down, but I did appreciate the sweeping overview of an era of Roman history that this story provided me with.

I really enjoyed both Solina and Paulinus as characters, and I appreciated how Elodie Harper made me sympathize with Paulinus while also never letting him entirely off the hook. It was so interesting to watch Solina deal with the complicated emotions of caring for someone who has also done such terrible things to you.

A solid four star book, and further evidence that I will continue to read anything Elodie Harper puts out! Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!

4 ⭐️

This was the first book from Elodie Harper I read and I’m so happy for it.
To be honest, as much as I love and read a lot about mythology, I’ve never heard about Boudicca’s story before this book, but I loved every single second of the reading.

The characters are developed properly for what was intended from the book, meaning the story of our FMC, Solina, and the MMC, Paulinus. The multiple POV’s are precious, because they allow the reader not only get to know the characters but also envision the environment that evolves the main story, be aware from the cultural perspective of both sides - the British iceni tribe and the Roman Empire representative. Which, in my opinion, is a very important topic, specifically nowadays.

As someone with a graduation in History, I have to say I was delighted with the Roman History references that were part of the story itself, such as the Great Fire of Rome during the emperor Nero’s rule or the reference of the senator Calpurnius Pisos. It just made everything better for me.

The book is a journey for the reader, a complete one. The author invites us to see the growth of our FMC, Solina, make us think about life in general, about relationships and how the culture differences can influence everything and everyone in the world: the way you see and feel things, how you see the foreigners, the customs of every culture, how they relate or diverge. Although, I have to mention that the reader may feel the action a bit slow at the beginning, but trust the process because every single detail counts to the moment when you feel the story is about to end. It is a beautiful journey, filled with love, anger and suffering but beautiful nonetheless.

I adored every single moment of Solina’s journey, highly recommend the reading if you like a good book, well written, a good storyline with a strong FMC and with accurate references to Ancient History. Had fun reading my first Elodie Harper’s book and I will read the other ones for sure🖤

Thank you very much to Elodie Harper and NetGalley for giving me the access to the ARC

I’m calling it now! This is going to be on everybody’s best books of 2025 list! IT WAS AMAZING. But I knew that before reading it. Elodie Harper has such a way with immersing you into the story. The writing was lush and the setting brutal. 5 out of 5 stars!

Boudicca's Daughter is a really interesting book filled with a different dynamic to what you would expect. I went into this completely blind and I'm so glad that I did.
Elodie Harper is the absolute queen of writing flawed characters, every single choice Solina made in this book would have been the wrong one for someone, filling her with guilt, self doubt, and confusion, but at the end of the day, she tried to do the best with what life had given her. The story progressed in a way I didn't expect and the multiple POV's I find usually a hinderence were a wonderful addition, to see our main character through the eyes of others made it a much more interesting and enjoyable read.
I do feel like this book couldve almost been spread out over a duology, I wish big historical events were not glossed over, and the whole storyline felt slow in places and rushed in others, I think we had about 4 emporers in the space of 20 pages. I would have loved there to be more political intrigue.

All in all I think this was a really solid book, not quite on the level of her other works but definitely a very enjoyable read.

Harper has done it again.

Maybe it’s the news IRL, or maybe my reading mood needed something unforgivingly feisty - but this felt like the right book at the right time.

Solina personifies anger and you know what? Feminist rage is vibe and I’m 101% down for it.

I also appreciate how Harper builds “it’s complicated” relationships in a way that has me cheering as I turn the pages.

My thanks to Netgalley & Union Square & Co. - A subsidiary of Sterling Publishing for this ARC.

4.25/5

Elodie Harper does it again!! At first I was expecting this to be mostly about Bouddica, (yes I know, the title says otherwise!) as I know her to be a really famous warrior but knew next to nothing about her Part of me was confused by the fact that Boudicca was featured in a smaller part of the story (obviously we had echoes of her throughout) but I absolutely loved Solina from the moment we first met her, her fierce personality and bravery made her so real and someone I could really root for.

I loved the complex dynamic between Paulinus and Solina, I did actually shed a small tear at the end which is huge for me! Shows how well Elodie writes relationships that are truly believable

I think the only thing that brought it down a 1/4 star was that towards the almost end, it jumped through time quite a bit which didn't feel as smooth to read, but that's just a minor detail. I also for some reason thought this book was going to be about the origins of Brittanica from the Wolf Den Trilogy so was waiting for her to appear, not sure where that came from (no marks deducted for that haha!)

Reviewed in full on good reads.
Beautifully written and evocative with lyrical passages about a time in history I don’t know enough about. Loved the links to the wolf den trilogy although there are more unanswered questions so I hope that this will mean another book at least. The book, like the wolf den, had an underlying threat for the main characters and emotions were twisted as you root for some characters you thought you wouldn’t! Absolutely loved it. Thank you for the arc.

I always love Harper’s writing, so it’s no surprise that I also enjoyed this fresh new standalone! She writes characters and settings so well, meaning I couldn’t put this one down.

I'm so delighted to say this - Elodie Harper has done it again.

I am a huge fan of the Wolf Den trilogy. It is my favourite historical fiction series.

I think what I love most about Harper's writing, that is once again exemplified in Bouddica's Daughter, is her understanding of the complexity of human relationships. I don't think there are many authors that can write characters like her. They feel so authentically real, rather than only existing in pages.

This is another book by her that is driven by womanhood. And I love it. The female characters draw on strength from each other, challenge each other and uplift one another, without classism.

I think another thing that a lot of historical fiction struggles with, is making dialogue fit in with the time period whilst not making in clunky. Harper navigates this so well.

Simply, you must read this book. Now, I am away to wipe up my tears that Harper always seems to make spring forth with her writing.

Thank you to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Boudicca's Daughter is filled with rich prose, complex relationships, and a very serious tone. This was my first book by Harper and I can absolutely see why she has so many fans. The scenes flowed really well together, it felt very easy to read, while still being full of detail.

I am feeling a bit mixed about this one though and I can't quite put my finger on why. I was a bit bored reading this and couldn't quite latch onto any of the characters. It had all the ingredients of a story that I would love. I think, for me, the characters were just missing the bit of something I needed to feel fully invested. For much of the story, the plot happens to the characters.

I definitely seem to be in the minority, so I'm thinking that I just like my historical fiction with a bit more 'otherness'. We don't know much about Iron Age Britain and I definitely felt transported to the world Harper built, but there was something that felt inexplicably modern, like I could tell that this was written in the 2o20s. I think this would be a perfect book for more casual history fans or people who love stories about female rage.

3.5 ⭐️ - Review Contains Spoilers

So conflicted about this book/review as it has been one of our most anticipated releases since Elodie Harper mentioned it at an event to promote The Temple of Fortuna.

This book was enjoyable, and Elodie Harper will continue to be an auto buy author because we loved The Wolf Den trilogy. The pacing for Bouddica’s Daughter felt a bit off; the first half being dedicated to Boudicca herself, the last 50 pages or so raced through some really interested and key events in Solina’s story. The book started to get really interesting at about 70% of the way in and seemed to rush towards the end. Nero’s wife’s death is decided and happens in a few pages like an after thought (when actually it’s a key plot point), and Solina falling in love with Paulinus was really unnecessary and in some ways uncomfortable to read. That being said though, the story was great, the research was great and Rome was depicted so vividly. The pacing was just a bit disappointing for a book that we’ve had such high hopes for!

Thank you NetGalley, Union Square & Co., and Elodie Harper for the opportunity to read Boudicca’s Daughter. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and learned a lot about this time period while reading.

Told through multiple perspectives, the story transports you back in time to the brutal world of the Roman Empire. It explores power, privilege, grief, loss and survival with emotional depth and historical authenticity.

At its core are complex, raw and deeply human relationships.

A few of the lines that stayed with me:
“This is a blade so deadly it might cut any who touch it. The words of a dead traitor written in his hand.”
“What has my life been if not endurance in the face of loss”

Elodie Harper has such a gift for bringing the figures of the ancient world to life. I loved her Wolf Den trilogy and enjoyed Boudicca's Daughter even more! Solina is endlessly strong and resilient, and I admire how conflicted she was throughout the book as she dealt with the guilt of being the only member of her family to survive. This was an incredibly well-written and believable account of how Boudicca's daughter might have lived following the death of her mother.
I especially appreciate how Harper is able to portray the horror of sexual violence without going into detail - her discussion of the characters' emotions is so compelling.
Paulinus also had excellent character growth, especially towards the end of the book as he came to understand what Solina went through at his behest.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Union Square Publishing for the eARC!

Thank you to Union Square/Head of Zeus for the ARC!
I have loved Elodie Harper's writing ever since I devoured the Wolf Den trilogy. I went into this novel knowing I was in for really lush storytelling, pacing, and historical detail, with an amazing story to match. This was, luckily, no different!
What I liked:
-Solina. Thank goodness that she is a character so easily entrancing; she's smart but makes questionable choices, loving, sarcastic, observant, emotive, strong, traumatized (but wizened), and fierce. By the end I was sort of an emotional mess with how expansive her journey is.
-The pacing. I love a chapter that is succinct and keeps the story going. I was not bored once while reading this.
-Historical detail. I always give out bonus points for making me feel as though I am in the room with the characters, and this novel did not disappoint in the slightest. Harper clearly loves the time periods in which she writes, and her knowledge seeps through.
-The timeliness of this book. I can't help but think of how current events informed my reading of this quite a lot; the theme of how colonization destroys families, cultures, etc was top of mind, naturally, but it was handled quite well here.
What I have second thoughts about:
-The more romantic angle that the story evolves into; I am not opposed to it, but I felt that Solina and Paulinus' relationship was slightly marred by the time jumps and what they start out as, leaving me feeling as though their story is a little underdeveloped. I sort of get it, but I don't. And maybe that was the point, to feel a little iffy about them together; maybe my thoughts will change.

Excited for Elodie's next work! This was entertaining and perfect for any historical fiction lover.

I loved Harper’s Wolf Den Trilogy and Boudicca’s Daughter does not disappoint! Going into this, I wasn’t really familiar with Boudicca, but that didn’t take away from the story, though I will be reading up on her now! Harper captures the intricacies of strained mother-daughter relationships well. There were moments between Solina and Catia that were absolutely heart wrenching. Solina’s relationship with Bellenia was well-written too. Solina’s story is one of survival and Harper does a brilliant job of conveying why that is and how Solina adapts to everything around her. This book is tense and at times uncomfortable, but that only adds to its impact. Definitely recommend this!

I received an ARC through NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

🛡️✨ ARC Review: Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper ✨🛡️
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! Releasing August 28, 2025, this book absolutely blew me away.

Harper takes the sparse threads of Boudiccan mythology and spins them into a powerful tale of rage, grief, and legacy. We begin with dual perspectives from Boudicca and her daughter, Solina. After Boudicca passes into the afterlife, the story shifts to follow Solina’s life in Rome—and the path she forges for herself in a brutal, patriarchal world.

This is a story of a woman’s strength and survival, of generational trauma, and of vengeance taken perhaps too far. It’s visceral, emotional, and gripping from beginning to end.

✨ Please note: this book contains a depiction of rape. It’s handled with gravity and sensitivity, but readers should go in aware.

🌿 5/5 stars
🗡️ Feminist rage
💔 Vengeance with consequences

If you love historical fiction that centers fierce women and weaves mythology into something deeply human, this one needs to be on your TBR.

I have been waiting for Elodie Harper’s newest book ever since falling in love with The wolf den trilogy. Boudicca’s daughter delivers an emotional follow up centered around the Iceni people and their fight against Rome. If you’re looking for a rich story that is easy to binge, look no further. Elodie Harper makes Rome accessible to read, and her characters jump off the page effortlessly. With a complex love story interwoven with a war this novel had it all. I’m sad it’s over, but I’m glad to have seen the human side of Boudicca and her daughters.

Elodie Harper’s Boudicca’s Daughter presents readers with a riveting historical novel centered on Solina, the youngest daughter of the legendary British rebel queen. Against the turbulent backdrop of Roman-occupied Britain, the narrative traces Solina’s movement from her devastated Iceni homeland to the heart of imperial Rome. The novel stands out for its nuanced portrayal of identity, trauma, and cultural negotiation, and it positions Solina at the intersection of personal loss and political upheaval.

Solina’s character development anchors Boudicca’s Daughter. While her lineage might threaten to confine her, Solina steps out of her mother’s shadow not by duplicating Boudicca’s revolt, but by asserting her own agency. She inherits both her mother’s tenacity and her father’s mystical gifts, yet neither trait determines her fate. Instead, resilience emerges through her navigation of a world that oscillates between the raw lands of the Iceni and the seductive threats of Rome. Supporting figures such as General Paulinus and Solina’s sister Bellenia intensify the narrative, representing the interplay of loyalty, power, and adaptation. Their interactions expose the emotional and ethical costs attached to survival under imperial conquest.

The novel interrogates enduring questions of identity, resistance, and the inheritance of trauma. Harper’s focus on a protagonist who straddles two cultures, her indigenous heritage and her life as a captive in Rome, carefully threads the tension between preserving selfhood and the pressures of assimilation. Solina’s struggle is not just her own but reflects the dilemma of communities subjected to dispossession and domination: how to remember and how to adapt.

Female solidarity and agency stand at the novel’s core. Harper’s attention to sisterhood and the ways women navigate patriarchal oppression aligns with literary and computational analyses that highlight the distinctive qualities of narrative voice and embodiment in fiction. Harper’s prose is vivid and accessive, and emmerses the reader in both the chill of British marshes and the excesses of ancient Rome.

Within historical fiction, Boudicca’s Daughter offers a fresh perspective by focusing on those who inherit legacies rather than those who create them. This perspective invites readers to reconsider well-known histories through the eyes of the marginalized or overshadowed, a practice increasingly valued in both literary and computational research. By foregrounding Solina rather than Boudicca herself, Harper contributes to a more plural and inclusive recounting of history.

Finally, the immersive atmosphere and shifting settings of the novel underscore the fluidity of identity and the historical contingency of power. Harper’s work fits squarely in this tradition, blending historical detail with narrative imagination.

Boudicca’s Daughter is a compelling work of historical fiction that animates questions of survival, legacy, and self-definition against the forces of conquest and erasure. Solina’s journey, shaped by resilience and the refusal to be reduced to her lineage, offers an engaging reading experience that lingers beyond the last page.

By focusing on a “daughter” rather than a “queen,” Harper shifts the lens, allowing new insights into trauma, adaptation, and the enduring tension between memory and assimilation.

Editing notes:
bottom of p. 67 (page 79/442 on NetGalley app): “thebench” missing a space between the two words
bottom of p. 225 (page 237/442 on NetGalley app): “...tribune, whose spear thrust is not strong enough pierce the boar’s…” strong enough to pierce
first sentence of p. 322 (page 334/442 on NetGalley app): missing dash in belongings, which is split between two lines


Review:
As a huge fan of The Wolf Den trilogy, receiving this ARC was huge for me!! Thank you NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and Elodie Harper!

Let’s start with a brief overview of what I enjoyed - Elodie Harper is so immensely talented at extracting stories from women in history who have otherwise been ignored. As someone with no familiarity with Boudicca, Harper managed to bring me right into her world without using excessive historical context. As we spend time with Solina, Harper’s ability to wind factual historical elements with fictionalized personality traits creates a complex character that I couldn’t help but care and root for. Her strengths as a historian and novelist were blatantly apparent in The Wolf Den trilogy, and that is no different for Boudicca’s Daughter. Overall, I enjoyed this read and Harper continues to be an author I will anxiously await new releases from!

Now, to note some elements I struggled with…

Without spoiling anything, it is important to know that this is not only Solina’s story, as the blurb suggests. I feel the constant pivot between Solina’s POV with another primary character’s POV slightly weakened the strength of Solina’s story. I wanted a tale of strength, moral ambiguity, and feminine rage, which was present but dampened by her story’s counterpart. I feel only getting Solina’s perspective would actually heighten the moral ambiguity and complexity of her situation, without having it presented through another character. (Sidenote: I found it odd that, in an introductory author’s note, Harper tells the reader to anticipate moral ambiguity – I would lend more trust to the ability of your reader to understand that war and rage tend to get a bit sticky!)

I would also say the pacing is, at times, inconsistent. I often felt that many of the most notable plot elements were very rushed compared to the more leisurely pacing of the descriptions of Solina’s physical surroundings and the many, many people around her (Sidenote 2: There are SO many names throughout, and it’s hard to know who is supposed to be notable enough to remember.). There is one point towards the end of the book where Rome is flying through emperors and I was confused as to why we were, all of a sudden, lacking concern for the potential imminent fall of the empire. Major historical changes are happening and we really only see our characters observing their aftermath, not experiencing them as they occur. A new chapter would start and we’d have an executed emperor or a primary character in mortal danger and all I wanted to know was, how did we get here?

These thoughts aside, I still want to be very clear that this is an enjoyable read featuring Harper’s consistent ability to weave fascinating characters into captivating moments in history. I would recommend starting with The Wolf Den if you are new to Harper’s writing, and coming to Boudicca’s Daughter if you crave more peril and moral ambiguity.

TW: It is worth noting this book is, unsurprisingly, very violent. Boudicca’s Daughter is largely about (and advertised to be about) war, so I do not fault it for this. I just wanted to note it in my review because I am pretty sensitive to graphic descriptions of violence, and this book definitely features them!