Imperium: (Cicero Trilogy 1)

Description

The first title in a major new trilogy set in the Ancient Roman Empire by the number one bestselling author of Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel and Pompeii Of all the great figures of the Roman era, none was more fascinating or attractive than Marcus Cicero. A brilliant lawyer and orator, a famous wit and philosopher, he launched himself at the age of twenty-seven into the violent, treacherous world of Roman politics, determined to attain imperium, the supreme power in the state. Beside him at all times in his struggle to reach the top - the office of Consul - was his confidential secretary, Tiro- the inventor of shorthand, and author of numerous books, including a famous life of Cicero, which was lost in the Dark Ages. Now, Robert Harris - author of the number one bestseller POMPEII - has recreated Tiro's vanished masterpiece, to tell in vivid detail the story of Cicero's rise to power, from radical young lawyer to first citizen of Rome, competing with men such as Pompey, Caesar, Crassus and Cato. This is a world at once exotically different, and yet startlingly similar to our own - a world of Senate intrigue and electoral corruption, special prosecutors and political hostesses - in which the ancient rights of free speech and liberty are being threatened as a result of military adventures abroad. Harris's Cicero is an immensely sympathetic figure - an outsider, ambitious, vulnerable, highly intelligent, compassionate, frequently devious but always human- the world's first professional politician. As his secretary writes on the opening page of this imaginary memoir- 'Cicero was unique in the history of the Roman republic in that he pursued supreme power with no resources to help him apart from his own talent... All he had was his voice - and by sheer effort of will he turned it into the most famous voice in the world'.

Robert Harris was born in Nottingham in 1957 and is a graduate of Cambridge University. He has been a reporter on the BBC's Newsnight and Panorama programmes, Political Editor of the Observer, and a columnist on The Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph. In 2003 he was named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He is the author of the number one bestsellers Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel and Pompeii as well as five non-fiction books. He lives in Berkshire with his wife and four children. Reader biography Oliver Ford Davies has been working in theatre, film, and television for the last 30 years. He recently played Philip Larkin in the acclaimed Larkin With Women at the Orange Tree Theatre. Other theatre credits include- The Shaughraun, Hamlet, David Hare's trilogy of Racing Demon (Best Actor-Olivier Awards '90), Murmuring Judges and Absence of War at the Royal National Theatre and The Shape of the Table. Between 1975 and 1986, he was in twenty-five RSC productions. Ford Davis's film credits include Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee, Mrs Dalloway directed by Marleen Gorris, Scandal directed by Michael Caton-Jones and more recently Star Wars Episodes I, II and III.His television credits are numerous and include the popular mini-series A Dance to the Music of Time and The Way We Live Now.

Praise for "Pompeii": "Blazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... suffocating suspense and searing action." -"Sunday Times" "As explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history." -"Daily Telegraph" "From the Hardcover edition." Praise for "Pompeii" "Blazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... suffocating suspense and searing action." -"Sunday Times" "As explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history." -"Daily Telegraph" "From the Hardcover edition." Praise for "Pompeii" "Blazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... suffocating suspense and searing action." -"Sunday Times" "As explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history." -"Daily Telegraph" "From the Hardcover edition."