The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician - Edwin Lester Arnold

Phra, a Phoenician merchant and warrior, settles in the south of England as husband to Blodwen, a British princess. Slain during the Roman invasion, he reawakens several hundred years later to find that Blodwen has painstakingly tattooed the history of his family and village on his body. Slipping in and out of a state of suspended animation, Phra goes on to play his part in the departure of the Romans, the Norman conquest, and the Hundred Years' War. Meanwhile, Blodwen appears to Phra from time to time in ethereal form and in the guise of a succession of beautiful lovers. Expect adventure, battles, romance, mystery, commentary on the futility of war and, for those who continue to the end, some bad science in the form of an out-of-control steam-powered robot. Phra was first published as a serial in Illustrated London News, and later as a book in the United States and the United Kingdom. After languishing in obscurity for many years Phra's wonderful adventures were republished in the 1970s as the eleventh volume in the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library. (Phil Benson)