Nero's Heirs - Couverture souple

'Allan Massie is a master author of dramatic historical fiction set in the classical world and his latest novel is no less impressive than its predecessors' Observer

'Massie's latest work on the Roman Empire is charmingly written...Here we are wrapped into an intriguing time with the author's mastery of drama and use of a clever story-teller in the form of Scaurus - a lover of the son and daughter of Vespasian' Scotland on Sunday

'Absorbing stuff, effective as both history and thriller' The Times

'A Roman saga with a distinctly contemporary feel' The Scotsman

'As riveting as it is profound' Daily Telegraph

'Massie writes exceedingly well and and this novel is unusual in that it combines scholarship, action and emotion. A quality read' Huddersfield Examiner

'Authoritative author Massie powerfully tells the tale of these dramatic events, portraying treachery, malice, passion and heroism at the heart of the empire' Dorset Evening Echo

'Admirers of the sword-and-sandals celluloid Gladiator will warm to Massie's tale of togas and treachery, a similarly blood-smeared canvas, enhanced by the author's knowledge of the period' Sunday Times

At the beginning of the year 66, Emperor Nero ruled the Roman Empire. By the end of it, Nero had committed suicide and three of his successors were dead, and out of the carnage of civil war at home and a nationalistic uprising in Judaea a new emperor, Vespasian, had emerged. Here Scaurus, once the lover of both Vespasian's son and daughter, looks back on the whole extraordinary year and recreates a world of treachery, malice, passion and-occasionally-quiet heroism. Drawing on his formidable knowledge of Roman history, Allan Massie brings the distant past vividly to life and creates telling parallels with the present.