Vesuvius by Night

By: Lindsey Davis

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

In the late August of AD 79, the inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum are going about their normal business in the late summer heat. Two of them have a room share arrangement: Nonius, scrounger, thief and failed pimp works by night and sleeps by day; Larius, the fresco painter with dreams of artistic greatness, does the opposite.

When just after midday the summit of Vesuvius disappears in a vast volcanic ash cloud, their lives will change forever. While one sets about looting rapidly emptying homes, the other desperately tries to save his family from destruction.

Lindsey Davis brings alive one the greatest catastrophes in human history in this gripping audiobook, poignantly evoking the struggle for life in the cities beneath the volcano.

©2017 Lindsey Davis (P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton

Fascinating, descriptive, gripping, sad

Keeble's a great reader; struck exactly the right tone.
Davis' detail and accuracy never disappoint.

What are we calling audio novellas?

Stories about historical disasters are different in that the characters cannot stop the looming event, unlike your traditional stories where we expect them to do so. This changes the way I experience the story to make it much more about the characters themselves, their merits and failings and ultimately their fate in regards to the inevitable that we know is coming.

I enjoyed finding out the fate of Falco's nephew, and Lindsey Davis did a terrific job of adding in other characters to illustrate what happened that day Vesuvius erupted.

Superbly written and read

It is interesting that Lindsey Davis took Falco’s nephew and family and placed them in this historical story of Vesuvius. One doesn’t need to know the Falco books at all to enjoy - if that is a correct word here - this rendition. I visited Pompeii, read some non-fiction books (The Fires of Vesuvius is one) and fiction (Richard Harris’ book comes to mind) so I can appreciate how well Davis depicted the events. Jonathan Keeble did a fantastic job (though Marciana’s voice was an exception to how well he read), and read with all the drama needed for this story.

Fiction meets History with apply results

Lindsey Davis brings the first century eruption of Vesuvius to pulsing life, displaying her masterful grasp of historical scholarship and her ability to insert fictional, but credible, people into accurately reconstructed situations. The novella stands alone as a marvelous story, in the world familiar to readers of Davis’ other novels about the period (and with some characters previously encountered in other books.)

Gripping story

Thankfully it seems most volcanoes express themselves in more measured terms, but this one held nothing back. Still, having read or listened to the entire Falco series, I would have appreciated if Lindsey Davis had managed to rescue Falco's nephew and his family. Oh, well, stuff happens.

I was surprised the find such a good narrator that I'd never heard of, especially since he's done so much audio work. It seems most of his efforts have been in categories that don't interest me. I didn't scan all the titles, but noticed one historical work that I may pick up later.

Also, while preparing to write this review I noticed that several of the early Falco books that I originally purchased in paper are now in the Plus program. What fun. Now I have the full series in audio and am sure I can stand to listen to those earlier reads, since they were so long ago. Yay! Thanks, Audible.

Poignant - brings history to life

I'm familiar with "The House of the Painters" in Pompeii. I fairly recently had the opportunity to visit the exhibition "Pompeii in Color" at Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York and, as a history buff, I've studied the archeology around both Herculaneum and Pompeii. Davis does a remarkable job contextualizing what we know through excavations. This novella, couched within the world of the Falco series, brought the loss of so many lives out of the mists of the past and made them quite real. I found myself hoping for a miracle for this little family. Brilliant job by Lindsey Davis. Recommended reading for undergraduates or high school students who might be studying ancient Roman culture.