Midwest Book Review says about the book:
“Original, exceptional, deftly crafted and a simply riveting read from cover to cover, "The Cleansing" will hold a very special attraction for readers with an interest in a suspense thriller set in an Ancient Rome where the game of thrones is a blood sport -- and there's no guarantee of fairness or success.Vicky stopped by to talk about it!
With the publication of "The Cleansing", author Victoria Alvear reveals a genuine flair for the kind of eloquently descriptive attention, and narrative driven storytelling style that raises her historical thriller to an impressive level of literary excellence. While this hardcover edition of "The Cleansing" from Hypatia Press is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that it is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
When Writing for Children Takes an Unexpected Turn
By Victoria Alvear
It has taken me more than a decade to get my upcoming novel published. At first, I stayed in my “lane” as a young adult novelist, but I could not sell my book to kids’ publishers. I came close once—a YA imprint editor brought my book to the marketing team, but they shot it down. “Too hard/weird to sell,” they claimed.
So, I went in hard on the weird and dark realism and shifted to the adult market, where there is greater room for the subtleties of sexual politics and the ugly harshness of a violent and misogynistic society. The Cleansing is historical fiction that tells the true story of a Vestal Virgin in ancient Rome falsely accused of having sex. And her desperate attempt to defend herself in court to avoid the death sentence that follows such a “crime.”
Blaming a woman’s sexuality for the crimes of men is not a new thing, but this story is so over the top it’s shocking. Yet it really happened: When 50,000 Romans fell in a single day at the Battle of Cannae, priests asserted that there could be only one reason why the “gods turned their back on Rome.” A Vestal priestess broke her vow of chastity. Accused of a crime she did not commit, my main character must defend herself against a hostile religious court and outwit the political leaders bent on avoiding accountability. (Sound familiar?)
This is a dark story with unnerving parallels to today’s purity culture and our society’s growing misogyny. Even today, many fundamentalist religious leaders blame women or LGBTQ folks for “having sex” as the reason why God sends natural disasters. Perhaps it was a blessing that the YA imprints passed on the story because, by rewriting it for the adult market, I could more fully expose how religion and powerful leaders use superstition and fear to hurt and punish the most vulnerable among us. Sometimes rejections turn into opportunities.
The Cleansing: A Novel of Ancient Rome, by Victoria Alvear, releases January 20, 2026, and is published by Hypatia Press. Victoria writes for children under the name Vicky Alvear Shecter, and is the author of multiple MG and YA books. Her website is: www.vickyalvearshecter.com.
Vicky has also been creating a series of fascinating bits of history on ancient Egypt on her Instagram. Go have a look!
