Caesar: A Novel

Colleen McCullough

Harper Collins, Jan 28, 2003 - Fiction - 928 pages

In the long, fabled history of Rome, never was there one more adored -- yet more feared -- than Gaius Julius Caesar. Invincible on the field of battle, he commands the love and loyalty of those who fight at his side and would gladly give their lives for his glory. Yet in Rome there are enemies everywhere orchestrating his downfall and disgrace. Fanatical rivals like Cato and Bibulus would tear Rome asunder just to destroy her greatest champion -- using their wiles, position, and false promises to seduce others into the fold: vacillating Cicero, the spineless Brutus ... even Pompey the Great, Caesar's former ally. But only ill fortune can come to the "Good Men" who underestimate Caesar. For Rome is his glorious destiny -- one that will impel him reluctantly to the banks of the Rubicon ... and beyond, into triumphant legend.

About the author

Colleen McCullough was born on June 1, 1937 in Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. She attended Holy Cross College and the University of Sydney. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine but had an allergic reaction to the antiseptic soap that surgeons use to scrub. She decided to study neuroscience and established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney before working as a researcher and teacher at Yale Medical School for ten years. Her first novel, Tim, was published in 1974 and was adapted into a movie starring Mel Gibson. During her lifetime, she wrote 25 novels including The Thorn Birds, An Indecent Obsession, A Creed for the Third Millennium, The Ladies of Missalonghi, the Masters of Rome series, and Bittersweet. The Thorn Birds was adapted into a U.S. television mini-series in 1983, which won four Golden Globe awards. She died after a long illness on January 29, 2015 at the age of 77.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Caesar: A Novel; Masters of Rome
• Author: Colleen McCullough
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2003
• ISBN: 0060510854, 9780060510855
• Length: 928 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Historical / General