Circus Maximus: Rider of the Storm by Annelise Gray ~ Blog Tour

I have been completely swept away by Dido’s next adventure. Full of hopes, dreams and her never-ending search for truth, Rider of the Storm tells the story of an unforgettable heroine who doesn’t let anything stand in her way. History is brought to life as readers are fully immersed in Roman culture. The gorgeous horses are key characters themselves. Dido’s relationship with them is as powerful as her relationship with any human and shows how gifted she is.

The Circus Maximus series shows children how important it is to be true to themselves and not hide behind any disguise. Dido learns that life is too short to hide in the shadows.

I’m thrilled to welcome author Annelise Gray to Scope for Imagination with a special guest post.

After finishing Rivals on the Track, the sequel to the first Circus Maximus title, Race to the Death, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to write another chariot race. All my life, I’ve been a passionate sporting spectator and in conjuring up the thrills and spills of the contests at the Circus Maximus, it felt as if I had drained my well of memories from years of watching athletics, Formula One, bobsleigh and track cycling. Now, gearing up for Dido’s third and most dangerous adventure, Rider of the Storm, I wondered how I would go one better. How would I sustain the equestrian drama without repeatedly going over old ground?

Fortunately, we sometimes plant seeds in a storyline without knowing they’re going to bear fruit later. Early in Race to the Death, the reader learns that Dido has lived her whole life without her mother, Sophonisba, a brilliant and brave trick rider who died in an accident at the Circus Maximus when Dido was an infant. That idea came to me out of the preliminary research I did for the book, which revealed that a day of chariot racing in ancient Rome would be enlivened by entertainments from so-called desultores – acrobats on horseback whose skills included leaping from the back of one horse to another mid-gallop. Dido gets to know more about Sophonisba during Rivals on the Track and in planning Rider of the Storm, it occurred to me that it would be intriguing if Dido develops an interest in following in her mother’s footsteps and getting closer to Sophonisba by learning the same things she learned. Part of my inspiration came from watching The Last Mountain, a documentary about the mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, who died on her descent from the summit of K2, leaving behind two children who subsequently became climbers themselves. There’s always been a stigma about mothers with risky jobs like Hargreaves, and I decided that would be a fascinating theme to explore a little.

Evidence for what kind of tricks the Circus acrobats of ancient Rome actually did is patchy so in a bid to work out what was possible, I turned to Dr. Carolyn Willekes, a Classicist and hippologist (what a job title) who steered me towards the Mexican charreria (equivalent of a rodeo) in which the young charro might perform the risky paso de la muerte (‘death pass’) leaping from one horse to the bare back of a second, unbroken horse galloping alongside. As the name suggests, it’s a dangerous manoeuvre in which the rider risks being trampled under the hooves of the wild horse or those of his fellow charros riding close behind. I borrowed both the idea – and the name – to describe the trick Dido must learn in Rider of the Storm, in order to prove herself the equal of her mother. She’s helped by the same man who trained Sophonisba – Evander, an older acrobat, now in his last chance saloon and dreaming of past glories.

Having said that, readers of the first two books should be reassured that Rider of the Storm is still full of action-packed chariot races, and indeed part of Dido’s dilemma in this story is whether competing as a trick rider, like her mother did, can ever compensate for missing out on the adrenaline rush of being a charioteer. Can she be happy without the fame and glory of life on the track?