Ancient Rome, 50 AD.

Agrippina secures her son Lucius's fate through her marriage to Emperor Claudius. Though more intelligent than her previous husbands--and with a power that is absolute--for a time she bends her husband to her will. Claudius is gentle as a lamb with a rope around its neck.

So it is, that Lucius is adopted into the imperial family and becomes Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

But this is merely the first of many moves in the game of power. As mother and son risk everything--their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and crimes, their brilliance and their ambition--this vivid tapestry is brought brilliantly to life by Conn Iggulden in Tyrant.