She immerses you in their world, not just the monuments and the battles but the textures, sounds and smells of daily life. Occasionally when I’ve had a doubt (were there really glass windows in Roman Britain?) I’ve found that the detail is correct (yes, but only for the wealthy). The relationship between Ruso and Tilla, with its affection and moments of mutual exasperation, is beautifully observed.ĭownie often adds a historical note, saying what is real and what she has changed. Her observations on the differences between Roman culture and her own undercut the assumption that the Romans are more civilised. These play a key part in Terra Incognita. She is both naïve and shrewd, impulsive and strategic, driven by what she believes is right, but also, at times, lacking in confidence as an outsider who doesn’t understand the mores of her new life.Īmong the Britons she has both strong ties and enemies who have caused her great loss. Tilla is particularly fascinating, caught as she is between two worlds. A number of secondary characters, from soldiers to medics and even an emperor, add to the drama, many of them appearing in multiple books. He feels hard done by, with responsibilities for his large and feckless family at home in Gaul, left in debt following his father’s death. There’s a lot of humour in the books, much of it character driven. Together, these build up a picture of the diversity and complexity of the Roman world, and in particular its occupation of Britannia. These are mostly in Britannia but in Persona Non Grata they visit Ruso’s family in Gaul, and in Vita Brevis they go to Rome. Despite the risks to Ruso’s career, their precarious financial situation, and even their lives, they are unable to back down, driven by principle, personal ties or just plain cussedness.Įach book takes place in a different location. The plots are deliciously twisty and invariably involve Ruso and Tilla taking on people who are dangerous, or politically connected, or both. Together, they find themselves stumbling across crimes, which they investigate and solve. He takes her in as a servant but over time their relationship deepens. Tilla is a Briton who he rescues from slavery in the first novel, Medicus. Gaius Petreius Ruso is a Roman army doctor, initially stationed in Deva (modern-day Chester). It’s a very different sort of book from the Medicus series and clearly not a mystery, but I’ve been fascinated to see how the story’s come alive as my colleagues have pitched in with their own imaginative take on events.Ruth Downie’s crime series set in Roman Britain is my current favourite comfort read. Although several of the characters appear all the way through, each of us handles the story from a different viewpoint and we all have very different styles, so for example while I’m seeing events through the eyes of a slave girl in Boudica’s household, the tales involving battles are written by people who are far more skilled at that sort of thing than I am (two of them are re-enactors who’ve actually worn the kit, done the marching and handled the weaponry). It’s somewhere between 140,000 and 160,000 words long – I forget exactly, sorry – and about 20,000 of them are mine. Hi Kathryn! “A Year of Ravens” is a collection of supposedly stand-alone tales by 7 authors that actually fit together to tell the story of the Boudican rebellion.
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On its fourth floor is the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Museum, with weaponry, uniforms, and paintings of significant battles. The ground floor is still occupied by market stalls on the upper floor is a council chamber, which in the 18th and 19th centuries was the meeting place of revolutionaries and later, of abolitionists. Known as the "cradle of liberty," Faneuil Hall was built in 1740-42 by Huguenot merchant Peter Faneuil as a market hall and presented to the city on condition that it should always be open to the public. Park outside the center and take any MBTA Green Line train (except one labeled Heath St.) to Kenmore Square and follow the crowd on the short walk to the stadium.Īddress: 4 Yawkey Way, Boston, Massachusetts One of its most recognizable features is the Green Monster, the 37-foot green wall in left field, and the park still maintains some of the remnants of "old time" baseball such as the hand-operated scoreboard.įenway Park also has the lowest seating capacity in the Major Leagues holding only 33,871 spectators (a fact that makes tickets exceedingly scarce).Īuthor's Tip: If you manage to get tickets, don't even think about driving to a game. The home of the Boston Red Sox looks much the same as it did when it opened on April 20, 1912. And sitting inside, surrounded by cheering fans and singing "Sweet Caroline" is a quintessential Boston experience. Known as "America's Most Beloved Ballpark," Fenway Park is one of the most fabled sports complexes in the country, and even if, like me, you're not a sports fan, a tour of it is both fun and interesting. See a Game or Take a Tour of Fenway Park Fenway Park | Photo Copyright: © Stillman D. With all these attractions and places to see, it's no wonder the Freedom Trail is one of the best walking trails around Boston.Ģ. The Freedom Trail continues through Boston's North End, past the Paul Revere House and Old North Church, and ends across the bridge in Charlestown with the 54-gun frigate USS Constitution and the 220-foot granite Bunker Hill Monument. This is Boston's oldest public building and the site of the Boston Massacre. The trail will take you to Old Granary Burying Ground (where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock are buried), King's Chapel Burying Ground (Boston's oldest cemetery with the graves of Governor John Winthrop and two Mayflower passengers), Old South Meeting House (where the ringing speeches of patriots spawned the Boston Tea Party), and the Old State House. Begin by picking up brochures on the attractions at the Visitor Center in the Boston Common before heading to the State House. It's easy to follow, by the line of red bricks in the sidewalk and by footprints at street crossings. The three-mile Freedom Trail leads you past – and into – 16 of the city's principal historic monuments and sites. Join me in a tour of my favorite city, and discover the best things to do, with this handy guide to the top attractions in Boston. Maybe because I've lived there and know its sometimes puzzling web of downtown streets, I find Boston a thoroughly comfortable city to visit despite its tall buildings, its compact neighborhoods make it seem more like a cluster of small towns. With all the music, theater, and entertainment options, plus its abundance of restaurants, you'll never be at a loss for things to do in Boston at night. These and the many other universities and colleges in the area help keep Boston a youthful and vibrant place to be, with a lively cultural scene. Here, you'll find two of America's most prestigious and important universities, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Although a separate and independent city, for tourist purposes, Cambridge is part of Boston and connected by the same transit system. Boston is easy to navigate on foot, as its major sights are relatively close, and America's first subway system, the T, connects its important neighborhoods.Īcross the Charles River, a watery summer recreation area whose Boston shore is reserved as the Esplanade park, is Cambridge. It's not surprising then that its main sites have become a pilgrimage trail for Americans and for others who hope to get a sense of that history.īut more than that, the Freedom Trail is a good introduction to today's city, connecting or passing close to some of its best loved tourist attractions. Perhaps no other city in America holds as much history of the colonial and Revolutionary War era as Boston. Still, experts say, there is evidence that children aged 10 and older are able to transmit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, at rates similar to adults, and a recent study found that children can carry high levels of the virus in their noses and throats. Trump - have sought to downplay the potential for serious risks to children, amid roiling debates over school reopening. In light of those milder effects, some government officials - including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald J. “It would be great,” he said, “if someone would be able to systematically look at it.”Ĭ hildren typically experience a more mild version of Covid-19 than adults, and severe complications, hospitalizations, and deaths seem to be extremely rare. While there are some studies underway looking at children who have been hospitalized with severe inflammatory responses, O’Leary said he is not aware of anyone researching long-haul kids who have stayed at home with less severe symptoms. “It does seem to be a real phenomenon that it may be happening in kids,” he said. Sean O’Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and vice chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has been hearing reports trickle in of kids who haven’t recovered. Instead, suspecting anything from anxiety to diet to constipation, they view each ongoing symptom as unrelated to all the others.īut some researchers and physicians, while acknowledging the scientific uncertainty that still surrounds Covid-19, are concerned. Many parents report that pediatricians, initially convinced the symptoms are caused by Covid-19, grow more skeptical as the weeks progress. Those kids range in age from 17 years down to just 9 months old. Since July, Undark has been in touch with 28 families who report that their children, while not seriously ill, are stuck in a kind of limbo state. While most attention to long-haulers has focused on the experience of adults - who, in general, tend to experience worse effects from Covid-19 than children - the support groups have also attracted a stream of parents who say their kids aren’t getting better, either. Sometimes dismissed or doubted by their doctors, people identifying themselves as long-haulers have formed support groups online, and they have become the subject of some research, including monitoring at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. In recent months, news media and researchers have begun to focus on the phenomenon of self-described Covid-19 long-haulers - people whose symptoms last for months after they are infected. Mahler is not the only parent to report lingering symptoms from a suspected or confirmed Covid-19 infection. Jake, there’s nothing wrong with you and there’s nothing wrong with your mommy,’” Mahler recounted. “She said, ‘Just stop taking his temperature. Concerned, she even sent them dinner one night.īut as their recovery dragged on, Mahler said, the symptoms continued and the support stopped. Every two or three days, the pediatrician called to check-in. Mahler’s own test came back negative, but her doctor said it was probably a false negative, and the pediatrician confirmed Jake had something viral that was highly likely to be Covid-19, too. It was, ‘You have it for two weeks and you’re better.’”Īt first, Mahler said, Jake's pediatrician believed them. “We weren’t hearing about any of these stories right at the time. “Never in a million years could I imagine that four months later our bodies are still trying to recover,” said Mahler, whose own Covid-19 symptoms began about five days before her son’s, and have persisted since. Now, four and a half months since he first got sick, Mahler says that Jake is still experiencing Covid-19 symptoms: exhaustion, intermittent low-grade fevers, sore throat, coughing, enlarged lymph nodes, painful limbs, insomnia, and mysterious splotchy skin that comes and goes. When he finally went four days without a fever by the middle of the month, Mahler thought it was over. Jake’s symptoms stretched into early May. An aerospace engineer in Clear Lake, Texas, Mahler is used to putting puzzle pieces together and taking a calm, cool-headed approach to problems. When 7-year-old Jake Mahler began showing symptoms of Covid-19 in mid-April, his mother, Cindy Mahler, stayed calm. |
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