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On March 15, 44 BCE (a date called the “Ides of March” in the ancient Roman calendar), Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of disgruntled Roman senators. Caesar’s Wife Must Be Above Suspicion doesn’t tell the story of what actually happened that day. Instead, it’s a work of alternate history: it tells what might have happened if Caesar, who had just won a bloody civil war, had survived that fateful day. 

Caesar’s Wife is mostly based on historical fact, up to a certain moment: when Brutus steps up to finish Caesar off, he fails. From that point on, I used my knowledge of the period and the people involved to develop a story about what might have been.

Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, takes an important role in the story. Whether or not she knew what was going to happen when her husband left for that fateful meeting of the Roman Senate on the Ides of March – well, you’ll have to read the novel to find out.

Caesar’s Wife Must Be Above Suspicion can be purchased from Amazon, as a print book in hard cover or paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Caesars-Wife-Must-Above-Suspicion/dp/1666707406/ref=sr_1_10?crid=17QQJY2BTQVTX&keywords=macqueen+bruce&qid=1648004081&sprefix=%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-10

or in Kindle format: https://www.amazon.com/Caesars-Wife-Must-Above-Suspicion-ebook/dp/B09K9N3B2B/ref=sr_1_7?crid=17QQJY2BTQVTX&keywords=macqueen+bruce&qid=1648004081&sprefix=%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-7

or directly from the publisher: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666707397/caesars-wife-must-be-above-suspicion/

About the author

I have to thank my wife, Weronika (for those of you who don’t know Polish, just think “Veronica”) for taking this picture. If only I really looked this good…

I’ve been a classics professor (that is, I teach Latin, Greek and related subjects) since 1980. My academic career started at Wake Forest University, then Purdue University (with a year at Harvard as a Mellon Fellow), and then the University of Dallas. In 1992, I moved to Poland, where I’ve taught at more universities than I could possibly list here. After I arrived there, I began pursuing a second field of study, called “neurolinguistics” (how the brain controls language). Not to brag, but I may well be the only classicist on record with over 20 publications listed in PubMed. In Poland, I founded the first Department of Neurolinguistics in the Polish university system.

My PhD dissertation was on Sallust, who figures as a character in Caesar’s Wife. Later, my career in classics moved to the ancient novel, especially Longus’s Daphnis and Chloe. At first glance, Longus and Sallust have hardly anything in common, not even language, but the connection in my mind had everything to do with how stories are told. Food for thought: the English words “history” and “story” both come from the same Greek word, ἱστορία.

My work with an ancient novel was actually helpful in writing Caesar’s Wife. My work in neurolinguistics, on the other hand, provided some useful background at several points in the story, when various characters get hit in the head. I’ve actually seen and worked with hundreds of patients recovering from traumatic brain injury and strokes, and I know how that looks.

Caesar’s Wife Must Be Above Suspicion is my first novel. I’m already working on a sequel, but it doesn’t even have a working title yet; my intention is to pick up the story where Caesar’s Wife leaves off.

Editorial Reviews

What if Julius Caesar had lived? The world might look different today, but in this intriguing novel, MacQueen focuses on the days and weeks after the famous Ides, when the would-be assassins are put on trial for their lives – and who should defend them but Cicero! Get ready to enjoy the grittiness of HBO’s Rome combined with the courtroom rhetoric of Perry Mason.”

David Konstan, Professor of Classics, New York University

MacQueen’s richly detailed reimagining of the greatest crisis of the Roman Republic is historically authentic, psychologically penetrating, and rendered in bright, clear prose. We follow Caesar, Cicero, Pompey, Brutus, Calpurnia, Antony, Cleopatra, and others through the twists of a highly compelling plot, as men more courageous and public spirited than us – alas! – fight to preserve the precious freedom and dignity bequeathed by their forefathers. This splendid and timely novel is historical fiction at its best.”

Jacob Howland, author of Glaucon’s Fate: Myth and Character in Plato’s Republic.

Caesar’s Wife Must Be Above Suspicion is a well-constructed time machine that takes the reader straight to the Ides of March, 44 BC, then visits other moments before and after that famous date. . . . MacQueen weaves the insights of a lifelong classicist into a narrative structure inspired by the best tale-tellers from Homer to Tarantino. The novel’s last sentence left me feeling sorry that I would never know what happened next . . . unless, that is, MacQueen graces us with another wonderful story.”

Vic Udwin, author of Between Two Armies

You might also want to read the review that has just appeared on the Amazon page for Caesar’s Wife, and two reviews on Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59343272-caesar-s-wife-must-be-above-suspicion?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=CmHqNsDbw4&rank=2