Pompeii: A Novel

Robert Harris

Dec 2003 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

BESTSELLER - "Terrific... gripping... A literally shattering climax." -- The New York Times Book Review 

All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire’s richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the last days of summer. The world’s largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii.

But the carefree lifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, and only one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta’ s sixty-mile main line—somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

Attilius—decent, practical, and incorruptible—promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. His plan is to travel to Pompeii and put together an expedition, then head out to the place where he believes the fault lies. But Pompeii proves to be a corrupt and violent town, and Attilius soon discovers that there are powerful forces at work—both natural and man-made—threatening to destroy him.

With his trademark elegance and intelligence, Robert Harris, bestselling author of Archangel and Fatherland, re-creates a world on the brink of disaster.

Ratings and reviews

I thought this was a very different suspense novel than others which was refreshing. Granted - you know the outcome in general, but you don't know what will happen to the characters throughout the book until the end. Robert Harris wrote pretty detailed descriptions of the surroundings and I could sense the research that went into the writing (which I appreciate). Overall a page turner and definitely a plot not often touched even though a sad one.

When compared to Harris' other historical novels Imperium and Conspirata, Pompeii is mediocre. This eBook version, though, is a complete mess. To utilize the chapter navigation you have to go back to the Contents and then click on the chapter you want, which is numbered, whereas in the text itself they are named instead of numbered. The text itself is scattered across the page and interrupted with poorly inserted designs I assume decorate the paper copy but here only serve to make the book ugly.

An historical novel about Pompeii? How could I go wrong? The answer - easily! Somehow this novel managed to make the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the burial of both Pompeii and Herculaneum downright boring. Probably because the first 3/4ths of the book happen BEFORE the eruption. In fact, most of the story is about an engineer trying to figure out how to fix an aqueduct and prevent a severe water shortage — when all the time, the actual problem results from early geological changes that signal the volcano is about to erupt. I wound up skipping large sections of the narrative, which might make my review a bit unfair. But that’s the way it goes.

About the author

Robert Harris is the author of Enigma, Fatherland, and Archangel. He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times. His novels have sold more than six million copies and been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and three children.