Three short stories set in NORWAY in Winter
Historical novel set in ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
2nd December 2025
Babylonia by Costanza Casati, historical novel set in Ancient Mesopotamia (Assyria, Babylon and Iraq)
Winner of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2025
Babylonia is Costanza Casati’s second work of historical fiction. The first, Clytemnestra, was a stunning success and this led me to be anxious that Babylonia could match it. I need not have worried! This is a gripping tale of a woman’s will to survive and to make something of herself in the ancient world she inhabits: Mesopotamia, some 800 years BCE.
The story focuses on Semiramis, who is a strong female heroine in a time when being female was a disadvantage, especially if you were poor. She is a young girl when the novel begins: an orphan brought up in a loveless household by a shepherd who took her on in the hope that she would eventually marry well. Semiramis has learned to survive by emulating her older adoptive brother, but she dreams of escaping her village and heading for the city. She soon learns that power – and gaining power – is a dangerous game. Will she finally go too far and jeopardise her own life?
This is a story of courage and Semiramis is a dynamic character with a will to succeed. She also has a strong desire to belong and to be loved, but she can show no weakness if she is to survive. These two drives are in conflict and as we follow her story we see her battle to achieve a balance between them. Perhaps isolation and a loveless life will be the price she has to pay to achieve status.
I loved the characters in the book, who are complex but mostly sympathetic (except when you’re not supposed to like them!). They range from the bullying playmates who form Semiramis’s character in her childhood to the cruel and powerful courtiers who threaten her very existence, the cunning spymaster and the loyal servant. Any one of them could betray Semiramis and she herself might sacrifice them on the altar of her own ambition.
From her rural upbringing, Semiramis is plunged into a world of political intrigue, espionage, and war. Brutality is a way of life for her, but it reaches new extremes. Saying the wrong thing, to the wrong person or at the wrong time could be a matter of life or death. As time goes on her burning personal ambition translates into ambition for her country and her king. And she is prepared to get her hands dirty to achieve it.
When we review books for TripFiction we focus on how well the settings are described. This is harder to assess when reading a work of historical fiction, but in this case I’ve still given it five stars because the author invokes all our senses in creating her fictional world. Not only that, as far as I can tell the book is a product of a great deal of research. This lends it an authority that draws the reader into the story, even though we can’t experience the setting for ourselves. Set against the poverty of Semiramis’s youth and the filth and bloodshed of war are the immense wealth and comparative luxury of the royal court, with its stunning artworks and architecture, lush gardens and exotic creatures.
Babylonia has a dramatis personae list of characters at the beginning and it is a real help, as it takes a while to get used to all the names. There’s also a glossary and some maps but I referred to those less. I’d say the book is a little challenging to start with but once you’re hooked you won’t want to stop reading. Definitely another five-star read – and I hope Costanza has a three-book deal with the publisher, so that there is another in the pipeline!
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