Tag Archives: Pompeii

#BookReview ‘The Temple of Fortuna’ by @Elodie_Harper #historical #Pompeii

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The final instalment of the Wolf Den trilogy by Elodie Harper doesn’t disappoint. The Temple of Fortuna follows the return journey of former brothel worker Amara from Rome via Misenum to Pompeii. She returns a very different woman from the last time she stood on the city’s streets beneath Vesuvius, having clawed her way up from slave to freedwoman and high-class courtesan. Elodie HarperIt’s been a while since I read the second book of the trilogy, The House with the Golden Door, but I slipped quickly back into Amara’s world. Moving in the highest of political circles on the arm of her patron Demetrius, and sometimes spying for him, Amara still fears the shadows and sees glimpses of poor people who remind her of her past and the dangers she faced. Every day she thinks of her daughter Rufina, left in Pompeii in the charge of slave Philos, her former lover and Rufina’s biological father, and fears for their safety. Rome is Amara’s best chance to better herself so she can raise Rufina in wealth and security. When Demetrius asks her to be his wife, Amara sales to Misenum to the house of her benefactor Pliny and then on to Pompeii. It is September AD79.
The fatal eruption of Vesuvius is a shadow throughout the trilogy but especially so in this book. As Amara’s ship approaches Pompeii, small earthquakes make the land of Campania shake. The tremors are so frequent that to the locals they become normal. Amara is reunited with her spiky daughter and we meet again friends familiar from previous books. My favourite is the female gladiator Britannicus, who has been watching over Rufina’s safety in a city where Felix, pimp and owner of the Wolf Den brothel, and Rufus, Rufina’s nominal father, are always a threat.
I admit to being impatient for the eruption to begin, this happens just past halfway but could have been much earlier. The earth trembles, dusk falls prematurely. ‘Above the mount, a black column has risen, is still rising, piercing the sky like a spear thrown from the kingdom of Vulcan, god of fire.’ From this point on, all political, business and relationship worries – will Demetrius accept Rufina as his adopted daughter, how can Amara leave Philos who she realises she still loves, how can she stop Felix extorting money from the bars she owns near the gladiator arena – disappear and the running starts. What follows is an almost eyewitness detailed report of fleeing Pompeii for Stabiae and Surrentum.
It’s impossible to review the second half of the book without spoilers. There are a number of epilogues which tie up loose ends, a little too neatly for my liking. But this is an excellent trilogy, immersive, with characters you root for. Definitely one to re-read.

Here are my reviews of the first two novels in the ‘Wolf Den’ series by Elodie Harper:-
THE WOLF DEN #1WOLFDEN
THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR #2WOLFDEN

If you like this, try:-
‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ by John Boyne
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon 
‘Shadows in the Ashes’ by Christina Courtenay 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA by @Elodie_Harper https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7U6 via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The House with the Golden Door’ by @Elodie_Harper #historical #Pompeii

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Wow, what a ride this novel is. The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper, second in the Wolf Den trilogy, is set in Pompeii only a few years before the city’s destruction. Amara, no longer a slave and prostitute, is a courtesan living at the house with the golden door where food, accommodation, servants and the clothes on her back are provided by her new patron, Rufus. Elodie HarperThe door may be golden but Amara’s safety depends on Rufus continuing to be entertained by her. This is such a difficult story to read, told by Harper without sentiment. We follow Amara as she faces impossible choices in a life where it seems she cannot win. Determined to help her fellow she-wolves who still work at the brothel, she gets into debt to her worst enemy. Amara is an enigma, at one moment ruthless and determined, the next throwing her heart into lost causes. This is a thrilling story that starts out at a more leisurely pace as Amara settles into her new life, but soon begins the race towards the impossibly poignant ending.
Amara builds a new life, developing her business as a money-lender to other women and selling her three musicians [with added benefits] to perform at the homes of wealthy Pompeii residents. Her life seems to be steadying. From the Wolf Den she has brought and freed Victoria, and English slave Britannica. The house with the golden door begins to feel like a home, marred only by the knowledge that the servants are employed by Rufus. A constant reminder that, although now a freedwoman and better-placed than when she was a whore, Amara’s situation is balanced on a cliff edge. When she begins to see the true character of Rufus, tension rises and the storytelling speeds up. There are moments when Amara acts with cool deliberation and courage, others when she is so impetuous you just know something bad is going to happen. As readers we travel this rollercoaster with her, wanting her to find happiness, love and security but glad she has the fighter Britannica to watch her back. When she falls in love, Amara risks everything.
There is betrayal and jealousy but also loyalty and love. I particularly loved the character development of Britannica. Felix is a great baddie, loathsome, terrifying, manipulative and creepy. And all the time, with our knowledge of historical fact, there is the brooding presence of Mount Vesuvius. It’s impossible to read these books with the descriptions of sumptuous palaces and the humbler brothels, baths and bars, all decorated in varying degrees of taste and skill with paintings, statues and fountains, and forget what it is to come.
Life in Pompeii for the she-wolves is, at its most basic, about survival, survival that is complicated when your family is threatened. The decisions one woman may take may be an anathema to another, may seem like betrayal but are understandable.
The final book in the trilogy, The Temple of Fortuna, is set in AD79. We know what happened to Pompeii then.

Here are my reviews of the other two novels in the ‘Wolf Den’ trilogy by Elodie Harper:-
THE WOLF DEN #1WOLFDEN
THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA #3WOLFDEN

If you like this, try:-
‘The Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker
‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ by John Boyne
‘Stone Blind’ by Natalie Haynes

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR by @Elodie_Harper https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7df via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Wolf Den’ by @Elodie_Harper #historical #Pompeii

7 Replies

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. Elodie HarperI 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:- Angela Petch