The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper, first in the Wolf Den trilogy, is a visceral portrait of Pompeii, the wealth, the poverty, the luxury, the corruption, the art and culture. Set in a brothel, this is the story of Amara, a young Greek middle class woman sold into slavery and shipped to Italy. Amara’s story, and of her fellow she-wolves, is not pretty but this is such a dynamic tale, foul-smelling, full of abuse and also love and hope. I loved the female dynamic. The strength and vulnerability of the women who live and work in the wolf den who band together as sisters, loving, bickering, competitive, supportive. But there is also mistrust and rivalry, dissembling about their real backgrounds.
Pompeii is a city of excess where there is everything to gain or lose and with that goes violence, secrecy, feuds, revenge and betrayal. Between the wealthy, between the brothel owners, the sybarites, the money lenders, the organised crime gangs. Through this minefield, the women of the wolf den must step carefully to survive, to find customers, watching each other’s backs, always searching for a man who is kind but at best not violent. It is a city of feast days, each excessive in their own way; Vinalia, the wine festival, and Saturnalia, celebrating agricultural god Saturn, are both key in the timelines of the novel. The Wolf Den is a fascinating glimpse into the life in Pompeii, Harper writes with such visceral clarity, detailing the violence and beauty with equal brightness. The novel is set in AD74, only five years before the eruption of Vesuvius destroys the city.
Negotiating the path to life improvement, one step at a time, Amara’s life is a pendulum, swinging one day good, the next bad. When bad can mean injury, cruelty, murder and good can mean a word of kindness, a gift of a necklace, a day in the brothel when the cruel master is absent. She makes tiny steps in improving her lot, making sacrifices along the way, always with a clear eye on her goal. To become a freewoman. Along the way, she learns compromise, pragmatism and loyalty, but will she find true love to guarantee survival. It’s a cruel and unequal world that Amara must navigate.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this trilogy, it’s a rollercoaster emotional read.

Here are my reviews of the first two novels in the ‘Wolf Den’ series by Elodie Harper:-
THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR #2WOLFDEN
THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA #3WOLFDEN

If you like this, try:-
‘Frog Music’ by Emma Donoghue
‘The Fair Fight’ by Anna Freeman
‘A Dangerous Business’ by Jane Smiley

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE WOLF DEN by @Elodie_Harper https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-736 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-