Books

Voices of Rome

Four Stories of Ancient Rome

This is an omnibus collection of four Lindsey Davis novellas: It came about through the special relationship between Lindsey and her readers. It brings together stories that have never been collected in print form before. Alongside the Marcus Didius Falco and Flavia Albia novels sit these shorter pieces; they are part of the extended family saga that gives such colour and depth to her mysteries.

All four stories are dominated by events that shook First Century Rome: the Boudiccan Rebellion, the eruption of Vesuvius and Domitian’s double triumph, with its notorious Black Banquet. Both natural and man-made disasters threaten very different characters, from anxious children in a disturbing world to their cynical elders who struggle on, yet feel helpless to achieve the society they aspire to.

The author provides an introduction, telling how each story came to be written and how it allows her much-loved characters new space and the opportunity to take personal roles in tense situations, with moving results. They face villainy, tragedy, accident, confusion and fear – but each story is told with the wry humour we expect, and underpinned by human wisdom, courage and love.

• The Spook Who Spoke Again: Marcus Didius Alexander Postumus is an odd boy who has known two families: that of Marcus Didius himself and his actual birth mother, Thalia the Snake Dancer. Things begin to unravel quickly when he decides to emulate his adopted father and investigate a death in Thalia’s troupe of exotic performers.
• Vesuvius by Night: Two men share a room but seldom meet. Nonius is a pimp and part time thief who operates at night, Larius is a fresco painter who dreams of artistic greatness by day. When the volcano erupts, one will begin looting hastily abandoned villas, the other will do anything he can to save himself and his family.
• Invitation to Die: When the Emperor Domitian invites the entire senatorial class to a banquet to honour the recent war dead, many think he intends to take revenge on his enemies. When the Camillus brothers enter the black-painted hall where the feast is being held and see their names engraved on monumental stones, they fear they will not survive the night…
• The Bride from Bythinia: the story of Aelia Camilla who travels 1000 miles to Britain to marry Gaius Flavius, a Roman officer. But their relationship struggles, then the province explodes in the Boudican Revolt. Now, it will be up to Aelia to save herself from the conflagration.