Conspirata

A Novel of Ancient Rome

By: Robert Harris

Narrated by: Oliver Ford Davies

On the eve of Marcus Cicero's inauguration as consul of Rome, the grisly death of a boy sends ripples of fear through a city already wracked by civil unrest, crime, and debauchery of every kind. Felled by a hammer, his throat slit and his organs removed, the young slave appears to have been offered as a human sacrifice, forbidden as an abomination in the Roman Republic.

For Cicero, the ill forebodings of this hideous murder only increase his frustrations and the dangers he already faces as Rome's leader: elected by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival camps, the patricians and populists.

Caught in a political shell game that leaves him forever putting out fires only to have them ignite elsewhere, Cicero plays both for the future of the republic and his very life. There is a plot to assassinate Cicero, abetted by a rising young star of the Roman senate named Gaius Julius Caesar -- and it will take all the embattled consul's wit, strength, and force of will to stop it and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship.

In this second novel of his Roman trilogy, following the best-selling Imperium, Robert Harris once again weaves a compelling and historically accurate tale of intrigue told in the wise and compassionate voice of Cicero's slave and private secretary, Tiro. In the manner of I, Claudius, Harris vividly evokes ancient Rome and its politics for today's readers, documenting a world not unlike our own - where the impulse toward dominance competes with the risk of overreach, where high-minded ideals can be a liability, and where someone is always waiting in the wings for a chance to set the world on fire.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your ears: listen to another Novel of Ancient Rome.©2010 Robert Harris (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Interesting listening

I just love Robert Harris and his books. His first book about ancient Rome and Cicero, Imperium, was just excellent. It gives you so much information about Rome in the first century BC, about the politics and politicians. Conspirata is a good follow up, although it does not give you the same big picture about that ancient time. But still it is extremely interesting to read about the characters like Caesar, Cicero, Pompey, Catalina, Crassus, and Clodius. And the narrator did a very good job presenting different personages.