Pompeii

Robert Harris

Random House, Sep 14, 2010 - Fiction - 416 pages

A number one bestselling Roman thriller from the award-winning master of the literary and historical thriller genre: Robert Harris. A thrilling depiction of one of the most famous natural disasters in human history: the explosion of Mount Vesuvius.

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.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - ritaer - LibraryThing

The eruption of Vesuvius foreshadowed by trouble with the aqueduct supplying water to the district. Young hydraulic engineer becomes involved with politics and corruption in the city government and falls in love.

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - delta61 - LibraryThing

I wanted to read this book because I've been to Pompeii. I am familiar with a lot of the buildings and walked on their mosaic floors. For the most part it is about the workings of the water system ...

About the author

Robert Harris is the author of fourteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep and V2. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Pompeii
• Author: Robert Harris
• Publisher: Random House, 2010
• ISBN: 1409021653, 9781409021650
• Length: 416 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Historical / General