134: Elodie Harper (Boudicca’s Daughter)

Charlie and Elodie Harper (Boudicca's Daughter) discuss the Iceni women history didn't deem important enough to give us names for, working with morally grey relationships for which there are no answers, and, in all this context, Ancient Britain and Ancient Rome.

Please note that there is mention of rape and violence in this episode.

General References: Butser Ancient Farm

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Elodie Harper: The Wolf Den trilogy
Elodie Harper: Boudicca's Daughter

Release details: recorded 27th August 2025; published 8th December 2025

Where to find Elodie online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:28 Why Elodie wrote about Boudicca's daughters; how Elodie approached the story in terms of responsibility; and the basics of the history that is known
09:04 Working with and including ancient texts that talk about Boudicca
11:05 Weaving Solina's almost completely fictional and Paulinus' somewhat factual stories together
15:19 Solina and Paulinus' mirrored experiences and the importance Elodie placed on Solina being both a cultural victim and aggressor
18:40 Solina and Paulinus are both from non-Roman cultures - Iceni and Etruscan; and Paulinus' Etruscan goddess, Nortia
21:35 Elodie's choice to kill off Solina's younger sister
25:15 Paulinus' decision not to tell Solina, effectively until the end of the book, about the brooch she left in Britain
27:18 Was it important that Solina stayed in Rome at the end?
31:15 Senovara, the Easter egg from Elodie's The Wolf Den trilogy, and Pliny, who Elodie had already written about in that trilogy, written in Boudicca's Daughter from a different perspective
36:55 Elodie's choices for Nero's wife, Poppaea
38:56 The sold slave, Ressona - what does Elodie think happened to her
39:53 Especially given Elodie's choices in terms of morally grey aspects, how does she hope readers will view the story?
42:11 Very brief notes on Elodie's next book (at the time of recording she wasn't allowed to say)

Photo credit: Paula Majid