Just Finished Reading: Pompeii by Robert Harris (FP: 2003) [394pp] 

Pompeii, Italy. AD79. It looked like it was going to be a record summer and the last thing young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus needed was a problem with the aqueduct that fed the local area. Somewhere along the miles of engineering marvel there must be a blockage and it was his job to find it and fix it before citizens started rioting and the emperor noticed his failing. His predecessor was no help. With almost no records available and the man himself apparently vanished into thin air Attilius was on his own. But at least he knew from the information he had and the map he had been provided with the rough location of the fault. It was on the side of Mount Vesuvius overlooking the Bay of Napoli. Needing to get there as fast as possible Attilius approached the local Admiral – Pliny the Elder – for assistance. More than happy to provide a ship and introductions to the local powerbrokers Pliny is distracted by his wine glass. Moments before the wine had been as calm as a sheltered pool. Now it was vibrating as if possessed. He had never seen the like of it before and couldn’t help but wonder what, if anything, linked the problem with the water flow and the bizarre behaviour of his wine. More study was needed and Pliny was delighted at the prospect of new knowledge for his next book. Meanwhile strange mists had been seen on Vesuvius and talk of giants. What was more disturbing was the quiet. Where had all the birds gone.... and Why? 

I’d been looking forward to this for a long while now and I wasn’t disappointed. Looking at the events around the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 mostly through the eyes of a young engineer trying to solve a related problem was a great way into the narrative. The MYSTERY of what was happening on (and unbeknown to the local population) IN the apparently dormant volcano was a great way of driving the story forward as well as building tension through most of the book. The fact that the reader already knew what was going to happen, whilst the characters clearly did not, enhanced the sympathy for them – most especially with Attilius and his love interest (which was handled really well) - which made the ultimate eruption that much more dramatic because, by then, we cared about what happened to them. 

One of the (actually many) things I liked about the whole narrative was the number of things I ended up learning about Roman society without either being lectured or without the story grinding to a halt. That takes skill. I’ve read far too many historical novels that rely on data dumping to fill in the background or world build while the characters in the middle of things twiddle their metaphorical thumbs as we’re brought up to speed. You don’t have people sitting around a table explaining about past events that they themselves lived through. It’s up to a competent author to sprinkle knowledge throughout the book and to trust the intelligent reader to pick up enough of it to help them make sense of the story and reach the required level of immersion. In this case the author manages that – and then some. 

A nice addition for me was the fact that I’ve been to the summit of Vesuvius some years ago so found the visualisation of that mountain easy. Likewise, I have visited both Pompeii itself and the near-by Herculaneum so could visualise the devastation of the ultimate eruption with ease (although the description in the book still took my breath away). As you can probably tell, I enjoyed this immensely and what to know more about the event itself and the aftermath. So, some history books to come! Definitely recommended for anyone interested in a cracking good read or for those looking to dip their literary toes into historical fiction. Excellent and more to come from this author.    

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