The Virgin's Tale Author:Sherri Smith Rome, 63 BC. — Offered up by her parents at the age of six to become a Vestal Virgin, one of six hand-picked women who symbolically protected the Roman Republic, Aemilia has spent her entire adult life in the all-female Temple of Vesta, under the strictest guard. — But temptation has led her to commit a mortal sin, and she is sentenced to death as... more » Virgins must die, buried alive in a pitch black tomb. As the end draws near, Aemilia looks back over her claustrophobic, restricted life: the intense friendships she formed; the implacable enemies she made; and, finally, the passionate but forbidden romance which caused her downfall and yet may be her only hope.« less