Boudica: Personal Perspective of a Fearless Queen

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History is divided on whether Boudica a scorned woman or did she have a justified reason for her retaliation. The book, Real Lives Boudica the story of the Fearless Icini Queen, by Gaby Halberstam, published by A&C Black in London, is a story told by Boudica herself. She is known for taking down over 70,000 Roman men and women due to the pain that they inflicted on her and her people. The book is written in the first person about the historical events that unfolded in Boudica’s life in a fictional story. This book does an amazing job at making the reader feel as if they were Boudica and an idea of what her personality would have been. Halberstam was able to give details through research and filling in the blanks. There are many famous men and women from our history that we would like to have a personal conversation with and this book is almost like sitting across from Boudica, listening to her tell her story. This book is based on real events but there are holes in her story because there was not much in historical documents talking about Boudica. Halberstam brought Boudica to life. She used her imagination and the timeline of events to give the reader a …show more content…

The first battle took place in Camulodunum. According to historians Boudica was ruthless when it came to defeating the Romans and Halberstam did not spare the details. On pg. 41 Halberstam painted this image, “It wasn’t long before the streets ran red. Dead Romans lay strewn about like discarded bundles of dirty washing. The cries and shouting became muffled moans and whimpering. While the flames had died down, smoke and ash still rose from the rubble, and the air was hot. Boudica wiped the blade of her sword on the robes of a dead Roman, and straightened up.” This excerpt from the book is a perfect example of the details that Halberstam used when describing the first victory for

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