Robert Harris's Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history' Simon Sebag Montefiore, 'Books of the Year', Daily Telegraph
A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction.
Author ProfileRobert Harris is the author of five novels –
Fatherland,
Enigma,
Archangel,
Pompeii and
Imperium – all of which were worldwide bestsellers. His work has been translated into thirty-one languages. He was born in Nottingham in 1957 and is a graduate of Cambridge University. He worked as a reporter on the BBC’s Newsnight and Panorama programmes, before becoming Political Editor of the
Observer in 1987, and then a columnist on the
Sunday Times and the
Daily Telegraph. In 2003 he was named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He lives near Hungerford in Berkshire with his wife and their four children.
ReviewsBlazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... pulse-rate-speeding masterpieces of suffocating suspense and searing action,Robert Harris's
Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history,Breakneck pace, constant jeopardy and subtle twists of plot... a blazing blockbuster,Harris has done a tremendous job in evoking life in ancient Italy... I am lost in admiration at his energy and skill,The long drawn-out death agony of the two cities is brilliantly done. Explosive stuff indeed,Gripping, topical and dauntingly intelligent,A stunning novel… The subtlety and power of its construction holds our attention to the end,A whole community, buried in volcanic ash 2000 years ago, has been brought to life… Stirring and absorbing,A supremely good piece of storytelling, most impressively researched
