No Turning Back — Graham Clews

On the continent, the Empire is racked with strife. General Magnus Maximus set out from Britain five years past, taking the legions with him. He has now paid the penalty for his ambitions. That army can no longer return, for it is desperately needed by Rome to fight her own battles. Left to defend herself, Britain now relies on the remnants of the Roman field force: mobile auxiliary troops that rush from pillar to post, meeting every threat wherever it rises. South of Hadrian's wall and threatened on three sides, Eboracum is the centre of operations in the north. Cadeyrn Aurelius and his wife Galena raise a private army to help fill the void left by Rome. Other such forces will follow, but as yet history has no barons, nor the kings to control them.
A new saga begins, one that follows the fortunes of Aurelius's family; that of the dispirited soldier Duagal Arbitus, forced by circumstance to turn traitor; and an expanding Christian church, a rising influence that affects them all, and not always for the better.
As with the first Eboracum Trilogy, Eboracum, No Turning Back, is written with the same unique approach to conditions of the time. Historically accurate, there are no bold heroes and no vile villains, just ordinary people who happen to live in more difficult times. People who face their own unique litany of fears, failings and foibles as they meet each challenge head on (for the most part) with a pragmatic acceptance and dark humour that is strikingly familiar, even today.