Some time
ago, I reviewed “A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica’s Rebellion”, an anthology by several historical fiction authors. “A
Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii” by Stephanie Dray, Ben Kane, E.
Knight, Sophie Perinot, Kate Quinn and Vicky Alvear Shecter is
similar to that: each of the six authors wrote a story, and
together these stories form a single narrative.
The authors
have each been given/picked characters from whose perspective they
tell the story. This actually works very well: each story is
long enough to draw you in and
make you care about the characters. The setting is the same
(obviously), which aids the immersion, and since all
authors have previously written stories set in the same era, or close
enough, the feel of the
period is about
as good as it can be.
The only drawback is that I
got attached to the POV
characters in each story
and wanted to follow them to the end. Only
seeing them appear in –
more or less – supporting roles
in someone else’s story was,
at times, a little disappointing. On the other hand, familiar
characters (re)appearing now and again was part of the pleasure of
reading this book. It was like seeing old friends!
The
story of the final days of Pompeii is
told from various
perspectives: slaves,
senators, soldiers… people from all walks of life. The narrative
is centred around an epic disaster, which lends it plenty
of tension, yet it is always the human drama and stories of
individuals that take the centre stage. What
do we do
when our life is in danger? What
is our duty or our obligation towards others? What
matters the most to each
of us: our earthly
possessions,
our own skin or the lives of those we love?
How far will we go to save
ourselves – or others?
Vicky
Alvear Shecter’s “The Son” is a coming-of-age story where a
young man learns that being a man has little to do with bedding
tavern whores; it is about virtue and duty and integrity.
“The
Heiress” by Sophie Perinot is another coming-of-age type story
where a wealthy young woman rebels against an arranged marriage to an
older, seemingly boring man.
Ben Kane’s
“The Soldier” is a gritty story of an ex-legionary, loyalty –
and it brings out the gladiators!
In Kate
Quinn’s “The Senator” an elderly, embittered senator meets a
fiercely independent,
chariot-racing
woman.
She’s
a survivor, he’s
suicidal – and they’re thrown together into this
end-of-days situation.
What ensues
is some genuine, warm humour,
yet this piece isn’t just a
comedy but also has a more serious tone, especially towards the end –
which makes it all the more poignant, because I grew very fond of
this odd pair. While
reading each story, I rooted for the main characters of that story to
survive, but was even more desperate to see Marcus and Diana
make it. The characters seemed just so vivid, and it took me a while
to realise that this was
probably because they appear in Quinn’s previous novels, which I
read quite some time ago! Now I want to go and reread those…
E.
Knight’s “The
Mother” is a story
about family, love and a terrible choice faced by a young
mother-to-be.
Stephanie
Dray’s “The Whore”
is
a powerful,
heart-breaking story
narrated by two sisters,
who are very different from one another and thus offer us two
contrasting
perspectives. I also
have to mention “The
Whore”, because it’s
the last story in the book, and the ending was the one thing
that had me worried. I mean, we know what happened in Pompeii. Would
I ever really actually want to finish this book? The end can’t
possibly be happy. Yes, you can write an unhappy ending. You can even
write an unhappy ending that is still a good ending and even a
satisfying ending. That takes some skill, though... and
Stephanie Dray pulls it off beautifully. There is grief, but there is
hope. There is loss, but there is love. It is the end, but it is a
new beginning.
I'd recommend
“A Day of Fire” to fans of historical fiction and those who are
interested in the
ancient world. It is also a great opportunity to sample the
work of various authors!
