Description

By the author of Stoner, the surprise international bestseller

After the brutal murder of his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, Octavian, a shy and scholarly youth of nineteen, suddenly finds himself heir to the vast power of Rome. He is destined, despite vicious power struggles, bloody wars and family strife, to transform his realm and become the greatest ruler the western world had ever seen: Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor.

Building on impeccable research, John Williams brings the legendary figure of Augustus vividly to life, and invests his characters with such profound humanity that we enter completely into the heat and danger of their lives and times.

Publisher Review

"Weir's sympathetic and detailed biography reassesses the life of a woman whose role in public life...has been underrated by historians" * New Statesman * "The finest historical novel ever written by an American" * Washington Post * "It would be easy to over-praise this novel; but there does not seem any adequate reason why this temptation should be resisted" * Economist * "A novel of extraordinary range, yet of extraordinary minuteness, that manages never to sacrifice one quality for the other" * Financial Times * "Williams has fashioned an always engaging, psychologically convincing work of fiction - a consistent and well-realized portrait" * New Yorker *