Manfred Boch

The Ocean Marshes Manfred Boch

A peaceful job commissioned by the army in a remote and little-known military fortress undergoing expansion a short distance from the mouth of the Rhine is the ideal situation for a young architect who is anxious to make his way in the world. His assistant, a man with a mysterious past, is more interested in blending in with the local people and not attracting any attention. But no corner of the empire is tranquil, and even this outpost on the limits of Germania Inferior can transform itself in an instant into a dangerous trap. The year is AD 69, the Year of the Four Emperors: Nero has been dead a few months and the pretenders to his throne, each one supported by his own legions, are destabilizing imperial dominion. In this power vacuum, the revolt of the auxiliary troops is shaking the cities and the fortified line of the Rhine river. The secession of Germania and Belgica is at hand. In a brutal world dominated by violence, the scores to be settled with the past force the young architect and his assistant to adopt a new survival method. But does it still make sense to prefer to remain loyal to an emperor rather than to the empire?