SUMMARYIn Perpetua is an historical novel based on the real life and death of a young Roman noblewoman. Perpetua was martyred in the amphitheater of Carthage in 203 AD, but kept a diary of her arrest and time in prison. While many martyrs were poor or illiterate, Perpetua was neither. A new mother, a noblewoman, wealthy, highly educated... she had much to lose, and she chose to give it all away for the privilege of dying for Jesus. The novel expands her diary to include the less than three years between her conversion and her execution. As she experiences love, life, persecution and self-discovery, we are taken along on her heart journey. All the while danger is building...the shadow of death encroaches...betrayal and jealousy threaten to expose her faith to the Roman authorities. And by the time she is willing, even eager, to give her life, we are with her rejoicing at the chance to die, hoping for the same chance ourselves.