Beric the Briton takes place during the Emperor Nero's reign and follows the adventures of a young Beric who, as a young boy, gets captured by Romans and spends several years being held hostage. During captivity Beric learns Latin language and Roman history, and gets familiar with military tactics which he later uses against the Romans during the Iceni revolt under Queen Boudicca. After the failure of the revolt, Beric becomes the new leader of the Iceni and conducts a guerilla campaign against the Romans. His group is taken down by treason, and Beric again ends up in Roman captivity, where he must fight a lion unarmed and goes through many more perils and adventures in Nero's ancient Rome.

George Alfred Henty (1832-1902) was a prolific English novelist and war correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure novels and stories. Henty's novels typically revolve around a boy or young man living in troubled times. These ranged from the Punic War to more recent conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War. Henty's heroes – which occasionally included young ladies – are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of 'pluck' yet are also modest. His works include The Dragon & The Raven, For The Temple, Under Drake's Flag and In Freedom's Cause.