Secrets from long ago hide inside the grand Roman Villa of Lullingstone.
A missing family treasure and a runaway tutor are just the beginning of mysteries confounding young Lydia and Balbus. But what is the life-changing book from Rome that brought great happiness to those who heard its message?
Jill Masters was converted in early years through the instrumentality of a local Sunday School, and began professional life as a teacher of teenagers. She wrote this for her many Sunday School children.
A story for children based on the momentous archaeological discovery by Colonel Meates and his team, in 1949.
Readers will learn about Roman Britain and the spread of Christian worship before the arrival of Augustine’s mission in AD 597.
(Read myself: 7-11 years old)
Reviewed by Matthew Wainwright
Good historical fiction is not easy to write. The author must combine accurate historical detail with a gripping plot and memorable characters, without letting any one element overpower the others. Thankfully Jill Masters manages to tread this line skilfully, giving us an exciting and informational novel for younger readers that deserves to be a modern classic.
The Lullingstone Secret is based on the very real discovery in 1750 (followed by a rediscovery in 1939) of a series of beautifully preserved Roman floor mosaics belonging to a villa in Lullingstone, Kent. The villa was excavated in 1949 by Lt. Col. Meates, revealing an extensive building with evidence of a Christian family who had lived and worshipped there in the fourth and fifth centuries AD—as much as two hundred years before the previous, traditional date of the arrival of Christianity in Britain with Augustine in AD597.
It is on this family that Masters bases her (fictional) story. As archaeological evidence of the exact family situation is scant, Masters takes understandable liberties in inventing a vividly-imagined scenario of a wealthy Roman family moving from Londinium to the countryside to take up residence in the villa.
Centred on the main character of seven-year-old Lydia, the book takes us through the succeeding years, suggesting how it might have been that first one, then other family members came to faith in Christ and found the Saviour of their souls. Dramatic and engaging stories of mystery and tragedy are interwoven with a skilful imagining of how this wealthy family may have turned their home into a house church, providing a centre of evangelism in a pagan world—both for Romans and native Britons.
The result is a book that is accessible (it is recommended for independent readers aged 7 and up), engaging, exciting, and packed with historical detail woven effortlessly into the narrative. This book is a model for other writers of Christian historical fiction, showing that a story can be both engaging and educational. It presents the Gospel simply, without patronising the reader, and shows the powerful change that comes about through the new birth.
For parents and older readers, Masters has included a brief but comprehensive historical note on the discovery of the villa and the arrival of Christianity in Britain, as well as a charming map of the villa in its heyday and a clear timeline of key historical events. Lively pencil illustrations by Diana Malawo complete the book and provide a help to younger readers.
We do not hesitate to recommend this book to readers of all ages.
The Lullingstone Secret is also available in Spanish.
The Lullingstone Secret
Jill Masters
The Wakeman Trust
97 pages
RRP £5.95
ISBN 9781913133115
Suitable for ages 7+