In the dual timeline story of ‘The Daughter of the Fens,’ three women feature as central protagonists. Their lives are woven together by the mysterious location of the fenlands in Norfolk and by their indomitable spirit and strength of character. All three of them are warriors; they believe in fairness, in love and in the power that women should have over their own destiny. These three women are, each in their own way, true daughters of the fens.

The Present day: Hanna 

Hanna Frampton is almost thirty years old. She grew up in the fictional village of Little Rymer, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk with her mother, Stephanie – her father was rarely present during her childhood and has now found a new life. As a teenager, she had an accident when she slipped on a trampoline during a gymnastic competition. She banged her head and, while unconscious, she spoke in a language that no-one recognised. From that day, she dreams of herself as a young woman who lived centuries ago. Images of Roman soldiers and tribal warriors with woad-painted faces fill her sleep.

Hanna is fascinated by languages – she learns them easily, including Latin, and she eventually moves to Guangzhou in China to teach English, where the dreams subside. When she returns to Norfolk looking for change and to attend her mother’s wedding to a local farmer, she meets a woman on the plane who says that the dreams will recur and that she is linked to a spirit from the past who cannot rest.

 As her mother’s wedding day approaches, Hanna becomes aware that her life and that of a young Iceni slave in her dreams are inextricably linked. A newcomer to the village has a startling effect on Hanna when he enters her dreams. Then she sees a lone figure standing in the mist on Little Rymer station and again in the fenlands. Very quickly, she realises that past conflicts need to be resolved and that she must find a way to do it.

The Past: Brea

Brea is a happy teenager living in an Iceni village with her father Esico and her mother Cartimandua in CE49, until their home is attacked by Roman soldiers. She becomes a kitchen slave in a Roman domus in Camulodunum, but she secretly dreams of being reunited with her parents and returning to her tribe. Years later, twenty-six years old, in CE61, Brea meets Aurelia, a Roman woman who is destined to marry Marcellus, a respected legate and the widowed son of her master Publius Julius. Brea becomes Aurelia’s slave and does her best to help her to prepare for a marriage she does not wish for. Marcellus shows Brea kindness, but she cannot reconcile this gentle man with the hardened soldier who has taken Iceni lands and is about to leave to fight the Druids.

As Marcellus and Aurelia’s wedding day approaches, Brea discovers that she holds an important place in both their lives. Boudicca arrives in Camulodunum to lead her Iceni warriors to the fight of their lives and Brea longs to join her people against the Romans. It is then she realises that her loyalties are divided.

The Rebel Queen: Boudicca  

Boudicca or Boudica (her name was never written down in her own time) was an Iceni queen, the widow of King Prasutagus, who inhabited what is now known as Norfolk. When he died, he left his land jointly to Emperor Claudius and to his two daughters in CE60, in the hope that the Romans would allow his tribe to remain nominally independent. The Romans ignored his will and attacked the Iceni, depriving the nobles of their lands and plundering the kingdom. Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped.

Boudicca persuaded the Iceni and other local tribes to follow her in rebellion. In 60 or 61 CE, while the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was leading a campaign in North Wales, the Iceni defeated the Roman Ninth Legion and destroyed the capital of Roman Britain, Camulodunum, then Colchester. They marched on, to destroy Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans). Thousands were killed. Finally, Boudicca was defeated by a Roman army led by Paulinus. Many Britons were killed and Boudicca is thought to have poisoned herself to avoid capture. The site of the battle, and of Boudicca’s death, are unknown, although there are many theories.

Little is known about Boudicca except that she was about 32 when she died. No grave or physical evidence has ever been found for her, and ancient sources for Boudicca and her revolt come from two Roman historians, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. AD 56-117) and Cassius Dio (ca. AD 150-235). They give us two different versions of the story, including the reason for the revolt.

She was described by Cassius Dio as being ‘very tall, with a most sturdy figure and a piercing glance; her voice was harsh; a great mass of tawny hair fell below her waist. Around her neck she wore a golden torc and a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch.’ He wrote this over a hundred years after her death, so it is not likely to be accurate.

Boudicca may have been an honorific title meaning ‘victorious’, in which case the name that she was known by during most of her life is unknown. The Roman name for her was Boadicea.