Must the secrets we hide destroy our hope for a future?
For a gladiator slave, each time you step on the sand, it’s kill or die. When Ursus decides to follow Jesus, he must choose to die the next time he’s ordered to fight…or run away. He runs, taking again his childhood name, Matti. But he isn’t just trying to escape. He’s running to Thessalonica, where he hopes to find other Christians like the woman who led him to faith.
When Felicia’s new husband, Falco, almost kills her in a fit of rage, her uncle won’t help her end the marriage with his business partner. He will send her to her sister in Thessalonica, but only if she tells no one she plans to divorce Falco and demand her dowry back before she gets there. When Matti interrupts a robbery too late to save Felicia’s money for traveling by sea, he offers to bodyguard and escort her overland to their mutual destination.
After Matti risks everything to save her from Falco’s assassins, Felicia fears taking the danger to her sister’s family. When his Christian friends take them in, she discovers the deepest desires of her heart. But will the secrets of Matti’s past make a future together impossible?
Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love
Hope’s Reward is the ninth volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of five Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Each can be read stand-alone. The eleven novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.
- Title: Hopes Reward
- Author: Carol Ashby
- Series: Light in the Empire (Book 9)
- Category: Biblical Era Historical Fiction
Praise for Hope’s Reward
This is another home run by one of my favorite writers! The story is filled with excitement and mystery. You never know what to expect next.
— Amazon reviewer
Love this. I love reading about Rome. And someone finding out about our Lord. Jesus Christ.
— Amazon reviewer
The message of Christ Jesus and Salvation in Him is repeated without being boring, as well as delivered by numerous characters.
— Amazon reviewer