Lustrum/robert harris

Rome, 63 BC.

In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power.

Cicero is consul, Caesar his ruthless young rival, Pompey the republics greatest general, Crassus its richest man, Cato a political fanatic, Catilina a psychopath, Clodius an ambitious playboy.

The stories of these real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions, their brilliance and their crimes - are all interleaved to form this epic novel.

Its narrator is Tiro, a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily, humane, complex Cicero.

He knows all his masters secrets - a dangerous position to be in.

From the discovery of a childs mutilated body, through judicial execution and a scandalous trial, to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob, Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power.