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In the Shadow of Vesuvius

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What to expect

‘Never less than compelling … She consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life’ Tom Holland, Literary Review

‘Starts with an erupting volcano – and then gets more exciting … Wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging’ Sarah Bakewell

In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.

The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world’s first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle’s notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years.

Daisy Dunn breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny’s Letters, she resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn’s biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter.
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Critics Review

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n Winner of the Classical Association Prize 2020n

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u2018A fascinating,u00a0compelling andu00a0excellent biography of the two great Plinys of Ancient Rome, as well as a celebration of nature, a study of literature and the human soul, and a lens into Roman society itself u2026 This work of bothu00a0scholarship and entertainment, arranged in Plinyesque seasons rather than strict chronology, is a delight that befits their high standards.u2019u00a0Simon Sebag Montefiore

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u2018Starts with an erupting volcano u2013 and then gets more exciting.u00a0A wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging portrait of the two Plinys u2026 and their world.u2019 Sarah Bakewell

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'Daisy Dunnu2019s book is an absolute delight. Meticulously researched and beautifully crafted, it shines a clear beam of light into the private lives of Pliny the Elder and Younger.' Giles Milton

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u2018Immensely entertaining and readable u2026. Dunn has given us a delightful new biography u2026 Thoroughly recommendedu2019 Sunday Times

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u2018Never less than compelling u2026 Without ever veering into historical fiction, she consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life u2026 A portrait of the Roman Empire that gives the reader something of the shiver down the spine that Herculaneum can inspireu2019u00a0Tom Holland, Literary Review

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u2018It is a story u2026retold with vivid flairu2026Dunn knits [the two Plinysu2019] lives together well and analyses the influence that they would have later on scholars from the Italian Renaissance to the English Romantic poetsu2019u00a0The Times

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u2018An enthralling and ambitious book u2026 Dunn has a great eye for a story, and writes wonderfullyu2019 Theu00a0Daily Telegraph

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u2018If only Daisy Dunnu2019s book had been around back when I was an aspiring classicist u2026 Dunn is a good writer, with some of the easy erudition of Mary Beard u2026 Her translations of both Plinys are graceful and precise u2026 Her enthusiasm, together with her eye for the odd, surprising detail, wins you overu2019 New York Times

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