The charioteer in his purest form. The supreme master of destiny and the elements. A man who made a circus out of life, and life out of a circus.

‘A.D. O’Neill peels back the veil of time and shines a light on the intrigue and excitement of chariot racing in ancient Rome. With exquisite attention to detail and an authentic and engaging voice, Circus Maximus is endlessly and effortlessly entertaining.’ MATTHEW HARFFY, author of The Bernicia Chronicles series

THE CHAOTIC A.D. 69
When the tyrannical Aulus Vitellius seizes the reins of power in Rome, the empire is already in the grip of a fierce civil war. But the new emperor’s first priority is both personal and deeply symbolic: he plans to crush the Green chariot racing faction – the mortal enemies of his beloved Blues – at the Plebeian Games in the Circus Maximus.

To save the Greens from certain extinction, two former charioteers – the stoical and determined Corax and the flamboyant and cocksure Alector (once the firmest of friends, now the bitterest of rivals) – have just twenty-six days to transport four champion chariot horses across the breadth of Europe to Rome. Braving blizzards, bandits, floods and wild storms at sea, theirs is an unforgettable odyssey and race-against-time adventure.

A.D. O’Neill steers a thundering epic around historical events and real-life characters to a breathtaking climax in the greatest sporting arena of all time – the Circus Maximus.