A former Shropshire businessman and journalist hopes to break into the literary world with his first historical novel, Libertas, which goes on sale this month.

Alistair Forrest, married to Kinnerley entrepreneur Lynda Adlington, now lives in southern Spain where his story is set.

The couple owned a Shrewsbury health store before their move, while Mr Forrest edited magazines in the health, travel and photographic markets.

Mr Forrest, who was educated at Wrekin College, said: “I have always had a dream that one day I would find the time to write historical fiction, but it wasn’t until Lynda and I moved abroad three years ago that I found the space and the inspiration to complete my first book.”

The history of his present day home in the small mountain town of Monda is reflected in the book. Curious about the local history, the couple discovered that Julius Caesar had led eight crack legions into battle through the valley which their home overlooks, and that Caesar probably stood in their garden, long before it was cultivated with olive and almond trees.

Libertas is about the people who live in Munda, as it was then called, in the 1st Century BC, and the Romans who want to impose their culture and customs on them.

Two rival armies clash in a wide upland valley, the Battle of Munda leaving 30,000 dead and a community devastated.

An unlikely hero, Melqart, refuses to believe that Roman cruelty and greed has changed his beloved Munda for ever. In an adventure which takes him to North Africa and Sicily, he believes his family can be rescued from slavery and the despair and horror of war.

Mr Forrest is now working on his next book, a novel set in the Middle East in Biblical times.

Libertas is published by Quaestor2000 and can be obtained through www.quaestor2000.com