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| The remains of the Vestal Virgin house. The temple is in the right-hand corner. |
Dear Agent:
As a Vestal Virgin,
Tuccia has dedicated her life to guarding the perpetual fire of Vesta, despite
the personal sacrifices such a life requires.
Tension in the war against Carthage
escalates and the panicked Roman people determine the gods’ wrath was invoked
by a Vestal Virgin who lost her virginity. To appease the gods, Pinaria – a
woman Tuccia loves as a mother – is executed.
Tuccia cannot understand
why Vesta did not save Pinaria. Devastated and filled with doubt about Vesta’s
devotion to her priestesses, Tuccia turns her back on the goddess who has been
the focus of her life.
The manipulative
priest Marcus, who senses Tuccia’s religious apathy and believes her to be
rebellious, becomes determined to seduce her. When she refuses his advances, he
accuses her of impurity and has her imprisoned. Her only route to escape
certain death is to give in to his advances, or reclaim her freedom through
trusting Vesta again to help her perform a miracle. Any miracle will prove
Tuccia is favored of the gods and thus innocent, but Tuccia can only be
successful if Vesta will assist her.
SACRED FIRE is a 106,000-word
historical fiction. It is based on the true story of a Vestal Virgin who
escaped execution by carrying a sieve of water from the river Tiber to the
temple of Vesta.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young
University. I blog at teralynpilgrim.blogspot.com and I was selected to speak
at the Historical Novel Society Conference in a panel on Depicting Religion.
Thank you for your
time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
