Santiago Posteguillo, the "emperor" of the historical novel

Photograph by Santiago Posteguillo.

The historical novel is more than present in the current literary scene. You can not deny that This genre is one of the most widely read in our country.. In this way, between that bestsellers best known we can find endless works that allow us to travel to the past, as if it were a time ship, and enjoy an enrichment of our historical knowledge in an entertaining and enjoyable way.

In our country we have great writers who have established themselves in this genre and have inevitably become a synonym for it. Anyway, of all, I would like to highlight who I consider the "cease" of our writers, the true "emperor" of the national scene as far as the historical novel is concerned.

I'm talking, of course, about Santiago Posteguillo and of his two trilogies dedicated to Publius Cornelius Scipio and Trajan. These characters, of great relevance within universal history and above all, within the history of Rome.

Those of us who are passionate about history and everything related to classical Rome have at our disposal an almost infinite amount of written works related to this historical context. Ben Kane, Massimiliano Colombo, Steven Saylor or Simon Scarrow are, for example, a sample of great writers who have written novels contextualized in this historical period and who, like the writer we are talking about, I would also like to recommend them and value them very positively.

Still, my favorite is still Santiago Posteguillo because his two trilogies seem like a sublime work of art on a narrative and historical level. Something that, when it comes to the subject of Rome itself, is not easy to find among national writers. Perhaps also, inevitably,  This very fact that he is a Spanish writer also helps, in my case, to consider him one of the greatest of all writers to whom I have had the luxury of reading and who have devoted their work to the novel contextualized in the Roman world.

The three books belonging to the trilogy dedicated to Publius Cornelius Scipio.

Proof of this is the amount of awards and recognitions that the writer has accumulated in recent years. Of these awards and recognitions stand out, for example, being finalist for the 2008 City of Zaragoza International Prize for Historical Novel with The cursed legions. Be the best Historical Novelist Hislibris 2009 for The betrayal of Rome, Cartagena Historical Novel Week Award 2010 or Historical Literature Award 2013, among others.

All these recognitions are based, in part, on the fact that the Valencian writer with his books   has managed to give the reader the opportunity to learn first-hand about the personality and history of a series of historical figures thanks to wonderful documentation around the daily, political or military way of life of both republican and imperial Rome.

At the same time, his literary style allows readers who are not attracted to historical study to inevitably involve in the plot of the characters leaving aside the context in which it takes place to, finally and inevitably, end up addicted to the history of Rome  and his study without practically realizing it.

Books belonging to the trilogy dedicated to Trajan.

On the other hand, of course, all those readers who do feel attracted by history and its study, will see in Santiago Posteguillo's work a rigor that is difficult to match and a perfect opportunity to continue marveling at the history of Rome, consolidate and expand their knowledge and enjoy the political and social intrigues that marked the periods described by the author.

For this reason, I venture to consider the two trilogies of Santiago Posteguillo as the two best historical novels related to ancient Rome and its writer as the best writer of this genre. Despite this, and as always, it is still my humble opinion and  I encourage our followers Actualidad Literatura to propose, in the form of commentary, your own impressions about the novels dedicated to ancient Rome and to his whole world.