“There is a splendid passage about the preparations for Messalina’s wedding… It is these moments that bring to life the female aristocratic experience in early imperial Rome, a young woman about to marry an old man, not knowing how her life would turn out, or how history would remember her.” read more.

“A much-needed reappraisal of one of Ancient Rome's most maligned women, Cargill-Martin's incisive biography of the Emperor Claudius' notorious third wife views her actions in the context of the time.” read more.

“Lively and sardonic… [Cargill-Martin uses] a kind of historical connoisseurship — a feel for what in the sources doesn’t fit and what, by contrast, fits too neatly.” read more.

“Cargill-Martin’s elegant and astringent discussion leads her reader deftly through the court politics of Rome under Augustus and his successors.” read more.

“The book is a lesson in ancient Rome, but more interesting is what it says about misogyny, patriarchy, and how women get written in or out of history.” read more.

“Cargill-Martin wields common sense and Occam’s razor, as she guides us deftly through the warren of high politics and the famously confusing Julio-Claudian family tree, deformed by incest, divorce and adoption into a shape more like a pretzel. Her writing…achieves a rare, old-fashioned, waspish elegance.” read more.

“This is an impressive feat…Cargill-Martin’s scholarly and engaging account of Messalina’s life is highly plausible. Even if the new Messalina may be of less interest to schoolboys and pornographers, she emerges from this book a far more interesting and significant figure.” read more.

“I didn’t write this book with a revisionist feminist agenda. I wrote it because it’s a cracking story. It was only afterwards that I began to feel anger [on Messalina’s behalf]. She has been criminally underrated.” read more.

“She’s been described as the next Mary Beard, her hero… Women rule the world of classics. But that’s nothing new—just ask Dido, Queen of Carthage.” read more.