Mark Prins Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Mark Prins is a bestselling author that is best known for his novel “The Latinist” which was first published in 2022 to much critical acclaim.
Before he became a bestselling author, he went to Exeter College Oxford and Williams College where he studied literature.

He would, later on, be a student at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Thereafter, he attended several workshops such as the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Truman Capote Trust.

When he was a student in middle school and high school, Mark Prins used to be something of a Latin geek. Back then his idea of fun was translating entire blocks of “Aeneid” by Virgil into English.
Given this nature, he did not have so many friends during his high school years. Throughout his teenage and young adult years, he always desired to be someone that was a student of the classics since he loved it growing up.
Nonetheless, while he ended up becoming a writer, he never did study the classics as a scholar as he would have wanted.

It was while he was living in Iowa City that he penned the first draft of “The Latinist.” Mark Prins then used to live in a house on East Jefferson Street with a little bay window, which is where he penned much of his first draft.
He penned the rest of the work while he lived on Brown Street and North Dubuque. Given how meticulous he always is, a lot of research went into the manuscript.

Moreover, he is very different from his protagonist as he is a youngish man while the lead is a young woman.

He is from the East Coast while Tessa is from Florida. Chris happens to be a long-time resident of Hampshire in England that is in middle age while Mark has never been there in his life.

As such, he had to conduct a lot of research to make his characters come alive. In fact, he still remembers trying to write about a scene that took place at an archeological site and just could not do it.
He ended up finding someone who conducts field trips for archeology students in a former Roman colony and this is when things started coming together.

Like many authors, Mark Prins found it very difficult to pen his debut novel so he invented some rituals. He believes that the most critical thing when he was developing his rituals was that writing too so much time.
There were periods when he was not succeeding and almost felt like he was working backward. What he discovered was that if he had a calendar, he could pen in how many words he wanted to write for each day and each week.
At the end of each day and each week, he used to document how many words he wrote and this somehow made him driven to actually write every day.

He ultimately published his novel “The Latinist” in 2022 and could not be more pleased with his achievement. He has described the novel as a work about obsession and two academics determined to achieve their goals no matter what.

“The Latinist” is a work that introduces Oxford University student Tessa Templeton, who has thrived under the praise and tutelage of Christopher Eccles, the esteemed professor of the classics.
After her job search failed to yield any fruit and her commitment to her work caused the breakup of her relationship, the only person she can depend on for support is Eccles.
But shortly before she is to defend her thesis, she realizes that Chis has sabotaged her and comes to realize that their relationship was a lie.

The professor believed he was in love with Tessa and spread the word around such that no one will hire her so that she can stay at Oxford with him. Soon, he becomes even more invasive as he tries to show her that he means well.
In the meantime, Tessa is scrambling to undo the damage done and it is while she is doing this that she comes across an obscure Latin poet from the second century.

This is just the break she needs to launch her academic career and finally be free of her professor’s influence.

A modern reimagining of the Apollo and Daphne myth, “The Latinist” is an intriguing work that explores ambition, power, and the intertwining of obsession and love.
Using humor and beautiful prose to enliven her meticulous research, Mark Prins makes the novel into an unputdownable work.