The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff was in Lindsey Davis’s top ten Roman books in The Guardian in February 2009. Davis has written the Falco Roman detective novels.
“Somewhere about the year 117AD, the Ninth Legion, which was stationed at Eboracum, where York now stands, marched north to deal with a rising among the Caledonian tribes, and was never heard of again.” Hooked? If not, there’s no hope for you. A wonderful novel, for children of all ages.
The full list of books was:
- Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Jérôme Carcopino
- Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome by Lesley Adkins and Roy A Adkins
- Rome and Her Empire by Barry Cunliffe
- Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide by Amanda Claridge
- The Colosseum by Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard
- Ancient Inventions by Peter James and Nick Thorpe
- The Lost World of Pompeii by Colin Amery and Brian Curran Jr
- Roman Britain by Keith Branigan.
- The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
- I, Claudius by Robert Graves
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
I’m not nearly as well-read as she is, but I would’ve put more than one Rosemary Sutcliff on that list. Maybe she assumed it’d be best to have a one-title-per-author rule. On my own list, I’d probably have a Lindsay Davis title, too.
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