Lustrum

Rome; 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire; seven men are struggling for power. Cicero is consul; Caesar his ruthless young rival; Pompey the republic's greatest general; Crassus its richest man; Cato a political fanatic; Catilina a psychopath; Clodius an ambitious playboy. The stories of these real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals; their cruelties and seductions; their brilliance and their crimes - are all interleaved to form this epic novel. Its narrator is Tiro; a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily; humane; complex Cicero. He knows all his master's secrets - a dangerous position to be in. From the discovery of a child's mutilated body; through judicial execution and a scandalous trial; to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob; Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power.