Connie Jagodzinski’s historical novel, Caesar’s Cousin, is available on Amazon.com.
Caesar’s Cousin is based upon actual events that occurred in the 3rd century, A.D. While Rome concentrates on subduing the Gauls in the western provinces, trouble brews unnoticed in the east. Virtually landlocked Goths build a fleet on the Black Sea and sail down into the Mediterranean Sea. They capture Rome’s critical islands of Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus. Without the grain and foodstuffs on the ships that must pass through these ports from Egypt and the fertile eastern lands, Rome will starve.
The story follows a privileged Roman family torn apart in the ensuing holocaust on Cyprus. To survive, each of them must dig deep within to find the strength, cunning and will to adapt to the new circumstances that threaten their lives.
Jagodzinski has lived in Connecticut since June of 1975. She and her husband of over 35 years moved to Shelton in 1981 and raised three children there. The family attended St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church and Connie coached her daughters’ Biddy Basketball Cheerleading team, the Eagles, before becoming program director in 1990.
Between driving kids to cheerleading, T-Ball, baseball, basketball, scouting and volunteering as home room mother several times, Jagodzinski worked to become a writer. She joined local writers’ groups as well as the Westport Women Writers, and the esteemed International Women Writers Guild, based in New York City.
When the last of her children graduated high school in 2004, Jagodzinski and her husband, Tom, moved to Milford. She became a contributing writer to Milford Living Magazine and wrote briefly for Fairfield County Catholic diocesan newspaper, The Milford Sunday Republican, and Milford Patch, a news blog. At present, she has her hands full as the grandmother of Chloe, 5, and twins Lily and Robert, five weeks old.
Jagodzinski is also active in local politics and serves as 3rd District co-chair of the Milford Republican Town Committee.
She hopes history lovers will love her book and admits she has a secret agenda.
“My target audience is high school students,” she said. “I love making the past come alive. They should learn that history is both interesting and important. These were real people. With only minimal information, leaders made critical decisions that ultimately affected not just their own kingdoms and economies, but, ultimately, changed the entire world.
“We like to think we would have done things better, but probably not,” she continued. “I’d love for young people to imagine how their world might be totally different had different decisions been made. It boggles the mind to consider the millions of alternate worlds we might have lived in.”