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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This engaging historical novel opens in A.D. 66, with Roman aristocrat Titus Petronius planning his suicide. Emperor Nero has falsely implicated him in an assassination plot, and the high-born Petronius prefers suicide to dishonor. Setting his affairs in order, he organizes an elaborate banquet for his close friends before he retires to his quarters to open his veins. Between sumptuous courses, elevated conversation and bawdy verse, Petronius muses on his past, and philosophical reflections on the meaning of life accompany a string of flashbacks, many of which detail the former governor's romance with a centurion's wife, Melissa Silia. Reviewing his career, Petronius realizes more attention to his mistress and less to the temptations of ambition would have avoided this disaster. Meanwhile, at the banquet, the grief of a young friend who cannot accept Petronius's refusal to flee to safety threatens to spoil the mood. Browner (Turn Away) has done his homework, and his meticulous description of a Roman banquet and its attendant rituals, as well as his account of first-century Roman politics, letters and even clothing styles, is immediately immersive. Browner creates with considerable skill a snapshot of Roman life—and death. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Having been implicated in a plot against Emperor Nero, Titus Petronius Niger, a soldier, senator, and courtier known as Nero's "Arbiter of Elegance," must perform his duty and fall on his sword. On the eve of the Saturnalia Festival, Petronius plays host to a gathering of his closest friends for a farewell banquet and to honor the sacred obligations of hospitality. A sumptuous meal is prepared, served, and consumed as Petronius, at intervals, removes himself from the festivities to open a vein and begin the process of ending his life, a feat that he hopes to accomplish by dawn. Browner (author of the novelsConglomeros, 1992, and Turnaway,1996, as well as a history of hospitality, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down,2003) deftly captures, with minute detail, patrician life circa 66 C.E., filling his narrative with beautiful descriptions of Petronius' villa, his slaves, the Aegean, and the abundant delicacies of the final feast (sweetbreads, black pudding, sea urchins, dormice, and sow's vulva). Petronius endeavors to find meaning in his life and control his legacy during his last hours. The novel is enhanced by Petronius' conversations with Martialis, a Spanish-born poet who enjoys his patronage, provocatively addressing issues of loyalty and integrity. The real-life Petronius is said to have been the author of Satyrican. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
This engaging historical novel opens in A.D. 66, with Roman aristocrat Titus Petronius planning his suicide. Emperor Nero has falsely implicated him in an assassination plot, and the high-born Petronius prefers suicide to dishonor. Setting his affairs in order, he organizes an elaborate banquet for his close friends before he retires to his quarters to open his veins. Between sumptuous courses, elevated conversation and bawdy verse, Petronius muses on his past, and philosophical reflections on the meaning of life accompany a string of flashbacks, many of which detail the former governor's romance with a centurion's wife, Melissa Silia. Reviewing his career, Petronius realizes more attention to his mistress and less to the temptations of ambition would have avoided this disaster. Meanwhile, at the banquet, the grief of a young friend who cannot accept Petronius's refusal to flee to safety threatens to spoil the mood. Browner (Turn Away) has done his homework, and his meticulous description of a Roman banquet and its attendant rituals, as well as his account of first-century Roman politics, letters and even clothing styles, is immediately immersive. Browner creates with considerable skill a snapshot of Roman life—and death. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Having been implicated in a plot against Emperor Nero, Titus Petronius Niger, a soldier, senator, and courtier known as Nero's "Arbiter of Elegance," must perform his duty and fall on his sword. On the eve of the Saturnalia Festival, Petronius plays host to a gathering of his closest friends for a farewell banquet and to honor the sacred obligations of hospitality. A sumptuous meal is prepared, served, and consumed as Petronius, at intervals, removes himself from the festivities to open a vein and begin the process of ending his life, a feat that he hopes to accomplish by dawn. Browner (author of the novelsConglomeros, 1992, and Turnaway,1996, as well as a history of hospitality, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down,2003) deftly captures, with minute detail, patrician life circa 66 C.E., filling his narrative with beautiful descriptions of Petronius' villa, his slaves, the Aegean, and the abundant delicacies of the final feast (sweetbreads, black pudding, sea urchins, dormice, and sow's vulva). Petronius endeavors to find meaning in his life and control his legacy during his last hours. The novel is enhanced by Petronius' conversations with Martialis, a Spanish-born poet who enjoys his patronage, provocatively addressing issues of loyalty and integrity. The real-life Petronius is said to have been the author of Satyrican. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
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