Pompeii: A Novel

BESTSELLER - "Terrific... gripping... A literally shattering climax." -- The New York Times Book Review

Across 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, and the tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. However, 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, and springs are failing for the first time in generations. 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. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus must navigate the treacherous waters of Pompeii and the impending eruption of Mount Vesuvius to restore the vital Aqua Augusta aqueduct and save the lives of thousands.

The carefree lifestyle and gorgeous weather of the Roman empire's richest citizens along the Mediterranean coast conceal an impending cataclysm. Only one man, the young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus, is worried. Attilius 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, and springs are failing for the first time in generations. 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 promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. He plans 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. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum, and 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, the young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus, is worried.

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