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5.5 stars
I have an intense love for Susan Howatch's psychological writing. Moreover, I am truly enamored with her unique method of taking a historical context and skillfully transposing it to a more contemporary one. In this particular case, it is the regime of Caesar Augustus in Rome. It seems that very few people bother to read the back story of Augustus when they review this book. Therefore, I thought I would pen a more detailed review than I usually do.
All of Howatch's books are crafted in this manner, including the Starbridge series and the St Benet's trilogy. However, this is one of her earlier novels, all written in the style of a Gothic novel and all encompassing an historical epoch.
This is part 2 of the story. (Part 1 is The Rich Are Different, which I also intend to go back and review in a similar fashion). The cast of characters is as follows:
Cornelius van Zale - Caesar Augustus (Octavian)
Alicia - Livia
Sebastian - Tiberius
Sam Keller - Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Kevin Daly - Maecenas
Jake Reichsmann - probably Herod (this is not entirely clear but seems the best fit to me as a) he's Jewish and b) he heads a rival bank/country).
Vicky - Julia
Emily - Octavia
Scott Sullivan - Iullus Antonius (son of Mark Antony)
Elsa Reichsman - Vipsania (actually Agrippa's daughter, historically)
Elfrida, Edred and George Sullivan - Cleopatra Selene, Ptolemy Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus, Mark Antony's children with Cleopatra VII
Andrew - Drusus the Elder
Rose and Lori Sullivan - Antonia Major and Minor
Alfred (Sebastian and Elsa's son) - Drusus the Younger
Eric Dieter Keller - Gaius Caesar
Paul Cornelius Keller - Lucius Caesar
Samantha Keller - Agrippina
Kristin Keller - Julia the Younger
Benjamin Keller - Agrippa Postumus
No longer present but referred to:
Steve Sullivan - Mark Antony
Dinah Slade - Cleopatra VII
Paul van Zale - Julius Caesar
The other aspect that I adore is the way she seamlessly shifts from one character to another. This allows you to be told a part of the story from a completely different perspective and also gain a different view on a character, as we get to peek behind his or her mask. A character who may have been presented quite differently when someone else was the narrator. And they are all complex psychological studies, just like real people are. So, you can read this straightforwardly, as a Gothic novel - or you can read it with one eye on the back story. Either way, it's engaging writing. But in the latter way, it becomes truly mesmerizing, as Howatch vividly demonstrates that all human stories have the ability to be repeated over and over again; only the context changes.
I have an intense love for Susan Howatch's psychological writing. Moreover, I am truly enamored with her unique method of taking a historical context and skillfully transposing it to a more contemporary one. In this particular case, it is the regime of Caesar Augustus in Rome. It seems that very few people bother to read the back story of Augustus when they review this book. Therefore, I thought I would pen a more detailed review than I usually do.
All of Howatch's books are crafted in this manner, including the Starbridge series and the St Benet's trilogy. However, this is one of her earlier novels, all written in the style of a Gothic novel and all encompassing an historical epoch.
This is part 2 of the story. (Part 1 is The Rich Are Different, which I also intend to go back and review in a similar fashion). The cast of characters is as follows:
Cornelius van Zale - Caesar Augustus (Octavian)
Alicia - Livia
Sebastian - Tiberius
Sam Keller - Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Kevin Daly - Maecenas
Jake Reichsmann - probably Herod (this is not entirely clear but seems the best fit to me as a) he's Jewish and b) he heads a rival bank/country).
Vicky - Julia
Emily - Octavia
Scott Sullivan - Iullus Antonius (son of Mark Antony)
Elsa Reichsman - Vipsania (actually Agrippa's daughter, historically)
Elfrida, Edred and George Sullivan - Cleopatra Selene, Ptolemy Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus, Mark Antony's children with Cleopatra VII
Andrew - Drusus the Elder
Rose and Lori Sullivan - Antonia Major and Minor
Alfred (Sebastian and Elsa's son) - Drusus the Younger
Eric Dieter Keller - Gaius Caesar
Paul Cornelius Keller - Lucius Caesar
Samantha Keller - Agrippina
Kristin Keller - Julia the Younger
Benjamin Keller - Agrippa Postumus
No longer present but referred to:
Steve Sullivan - Mark Antony
Dinah Slade - Cleopatra VII
Paul van Zale - Julius Caesar
The other aspect that I adore is the way she seamlessly shifts from one character to another. This allows you to be told a part of the story from a completely different perspective and also gain a different view on a character, as we get to peek behind his or her mask. A character who may have been presented quite differently when someone else was the narrator. And they are all complex psychological studies, just like real people are. So, you can read this straightforwardly, as a Gothic novel - or you can read it with one eye on the back story. Either way, it's engaging writing. But in the latter way, it becomes truly mesmerizing, as Howatch vividly demonstrates that all human stories have the ability to be repeated over and over again; only the context changes.
