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Title details for Pompeii by Robert Harris - Available

Pompeii

by Robert Harris
John Lee
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 14, 2003

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739350041
      • File size: 291911 KB
      • Duration: 10:08:08

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The springs in the towns around Rome are failing. Marcus Attilius, engineer in charge of the aqueduct bringing water from the hills of Vesuvius to the coast, has to fix the problem. His predecessor has disappeared mysteriously, his workmen are a coarse lot of sewer rats, and he's fallen for the daughter of the villainous Ampilatus. In Robert Harris's reconstruction of the days before the massive eruption of Vesuvius, credible human tensions build along with the volcano's deadly pressure. Harris injects arcane facts of feasting, fashion, and political foolhardiness, and John Lee's intelligent performance makes Pompeii more than a run-of-the-mill disaster story. As Ampilatus, his voice drips with decadence, and as Corelia, his daughter, it shines with strength and innocence. Lee makes even the dank tunnels of an aqueduct fascinating. S.J.H. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 27, 2003
      In this fine historical by British novelist Harris (Archangel
      ; Enigma
      ; Fatherland
      ), an upstanding Roman engineer rushes to repair an aqueduct in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, which, in A.D. 79, is getting ready to blow its top. Young Marcus Attilius Primus becomes the aquarius
      of the great Aqua Augusta when its former chief engineer disappears after 20 years on the job. When water flow to the coastal town of Misenum is interrupted, Attilius convinces the admiral of the Roman fleet—the scholar Pliny the Elder—to give him a fast ship to Pompeii, where he finds the source of the problem in a burst sluiceway. Lively writing, convincing but economical period details and plenty of intrigue keep the pace quick, as Attilius meets Corelia, the defiant daughter of a vile real estate speculator, who supplies him with documents implicating her father and Attilius's predecessor in a water embezzlement scheme. Attilius has bigger worries, though: a climb up Vesuvius reveals that an eruption is imminent. Before he can warn anyone, he's ambushed by the double-crossing foreman of his team, Corvax, and a furious chase ensues. As the volcano spews hot ash, Attilius fights his way back to Pompeii in an attempt to rescue Corelia. Attilius, while possessed of certain modern attitudes and a respect for empirical observation, is no anachronism. He even sends Corelia back to her cruel father at one point, advising her to accept her fate as a woman. Harris's volcanology is well researched, and the plot, while decidedly secondary to the expertly rendered historic spectacle, keeps this impressive novel moving along toward its exciting finale.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author Harris steeps listeners in the color, culture, and passions of ancient Pompeii in the days just before the eruption of Vesuvius. Michael Cumpsty aptly voices this historical novel, bringing intelligence and dramatic tension to a story bursting with emotional extremes and cultural extravagance. Production values are high, clearing the way for listeners to enjoy the struggles for power and survival in a sophisticated, if self-indulgent and corrupt, era. Cumpsty delivers nuances of class, caste, and relationships in ancient times. The listener's knowledge of the destruction to come adds palpable tension to his portrayal of this lost, but not forgotten, city. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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