Mosaic by Clive Ashman Reviewed by Tim Roux

Officially launched last September at Brough's Petuaria Centre, the town where it happened, on the 60th anniversary of the worst unsolved crime in British archaeology, Mosaic is the novel based by writer Clive Ashman on its known facts.

If you have ever read Marguerite Yourcenar's The Abyss, a classic and intensely haunting reconstruction of daily life in sixteenth century Europe or, more immediately relevant, her Memoirs of Hadrian about the 1st and 2nd century Roman Empire, you may well consider Clive Ashman's Mosaic a worthy companion-piece in its detailed understanding of the dilemmas confronting the magistrate of 4th century Petuaria (Brough), Marcus Januarius, who is beset by the savage and ever more effective raids of the Saxons (without sufficient weapons or troops to fend them off) and turbulent imperial politics which frequently erupt into bloody civil war.

Clive Ashman cleverly draws us into the human drama of this ancient story through the adrenalin-packed 1940s tale of DI Michael Tryton, widowed by a German bombing raid on Hull, whose job it is to investigate the theft of a mosaic pavement discovered in a quarry in Brantingham, once belonging to Marcus Januarius.

Mosaic is an exceptionally powerful yet subtle novel that provides a significant insight into what life was like during the late Roman Empire of Constantine by supplying a mass of modern-day parallels, and some extremely neat circularities in the plot. Highly recommended.

Mosaic (ISBN 9780955639807) is a quality paperback good to hold; 420 pages plus beautiful line drawings, a map, photographs, an author's note, bibliography and glossary of terms. Retailing at £7.99 per copy (plus £2.51 for post and packing) send a cheque for £10.50 to BCM Voreda Books, London WC1N 3XX or visit Hull's East Riding Museum in the Old Town or the Yorkshire Museum in York or local bookshops Our Lady's Bookshop in Hessle, Browns or Waterstones in Hull.

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