Fortune's Favourites: Colleen McCullough

Book III of Masters of Rome series. Sulla returns from exile and is installed as dictator of Rome. Pompey, designating himself 'Magnus' (the Great) is determined at the ripe age of 22, to leapfrog the accepted path of Roman politics by any means necessary. There is also Spartacus and his doomed slave revolt. Finally, there are Caesar's exploits as a young soldier and advocate, testing and enhancing the talents with which fate destiny has equipped him. Colleen McCullough took the research for her Rome series so seriously that she and her husband were almost flooded out of the house by reference books. She also worked out how to make a toga by factoring in aspects of basic daily Roman life and proved that most Hollywood representations of this garment are wildly inaccurate.