Pompeii

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

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.