Guest post written by Boudicca author P.C. Cast
A veteran of the United States Air Force, P. C. Cast also taught high school English for 15 years before retiring to write full time. Her novels have been #1 on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and her landmark House of Night series has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. She now lives near Portland, Oregon, near her fabulous daughter (and occasional co-writer) Kristin Cast.
About Boudicca: Inspired by the rich history of Boudicca’s attack on Roman Britain, bestselling author P. C. Cast crafts an epic, mythic retelling of one of time’s most legendary female warriors. Perfect for fans of Sue Lynn Tan and Madeline Miller!
The story of Boudicca, the brilliant Iceni queen who united ancient Briton tribes and amassed a combined army of over 250,000 and almost pushed the Romans out of their country, has intrigued me for decades. Boudicca wouldn’t leave me alone but remained on my mind for many years until around 2021 when I finally understood I had to tell her story.
I’m a veteran of the USAF and of Celtic ancestry, so I already felt a deep tie to Boudicca. As I began serious research of her life and her people that connection strengthened. I joined the USAF in 1978 just before I turned eighteen when most military men believed women were an anomaly in the armed forces; If we aspired to be more than smiling secretaries, we were unwanted and underappreciated. I force-marched my way through years of misogyny—experience that would be invaluable as I force-marched my way through the biased historic accounts of Boudicca’s military leadership of the Iceni. And we do have historic record of the queen. All written by men who choose to fetishize her or discount her or conclude that she must be a demigoddess because no woman could possibly be so powerful. Women couldn’t possibly lead men into battle and fight beside them, though Celtic women did so over and over and over for generations.
I turned to the archeological record for more information on Boudicca’s life and death and for the Iron Age Britons in general. Again, I was up against the same issues of misogyny and bias, which caused inaccurate recordkeeping.
So, I took my research and my experience as a veteran and as a woman who has comfortably and successfully led men in the military and in my second career as a teacher, and extrapolated a Boudicca imaged by a woman. It was a little like reconstructing a three-dimensional puzzle that came alive as each piece was fitted correctly. It has been incredibly satisfying and exciting.
Today’s women don’t just need Boudicca’s story of strength and resilience and distinctively feminine leadership, they will understand Boudicca as they cheer for her and sharpen their swords alongside this fierce, compelling and relatable queen.
