Rosemary Sutcliff. Frontier Wolf (1980)

     Rosemary Sutcliff. Frontier Wolf (1980) Alexios, commander of a post on the Roman frontier with the Germanic tribes, makes a bad decision and loses most of his men. As punishment, he’s assigned to a post on the frontier between Roman Britain and the land of the Picts, the Painted People, a couple of day’s march north of Hadrian’s Wall. The men he commands are an unruly lot, most of them recruited from the tribes who live in the borderlands. He becomes a friend of Cunorix, who later becomes Chieftain. A series of good and bad events culminate in a crisis: the chief’s brother Connla steals (“borrows”) a horse, he’s hunted down and executed, and there’s war. Alexios decides to withdraw; the last third of the book describes the troop’s trek through hostile country to Hadrian’s Wall. He brings most of his men to safety. His reward is the command of a larger frontier force in Belgium.
     The novel was re-published by Puffin, Penguin’s imprint for children’s and young adult books. Sutcliff’s YA historical novels don’t downplay the dark side and the gore, but don’t overdo it either. As far as I can tell, the historical details are accurate, allowing for the fictional fort that Alexios commands. The overall impression of a dangerous time and place to be a Roman soldier or a British native has the ring of truth. I’ve read a few others of Sutcliff’s books, she knows how to tell a story, create character, and imagine the past. More here:
Sutcliff.com and Sutcliff Wikipedia Frontier Wolf is 3rd in fictional chronology of the Eagle of the Ninth series. ***