Friday 14 June 2013

Press release - Pompeii's Secrets

Sharing this press release that we've received from the publishers of the new ebook "Pompeii's Secrets". Are there any blog contributers who are interested in receiving a copy to review? Let us know...





The Taras Report on its Last Days
   Pompeii’s Secrets

       Alan Lloyd
                                     9780285642348    Special Ebook release        £6.99
Fully illustrated with photos of the ruins of Pompeii, death-casts and artefacts

This ebook parallels the current British Museum exhibition and provides a fascinating imaginative recreation of Pompeii and fictional histories and personalities for the victims of the volcano whose casts can be seen in the exhibition. Alan Lloyd asks who were these people who lived in Pompeii and what were their lives like in the last days?

“Pompeii indulged the senses on every side. With the scent from sheltered gardens mingled the odours of spiced cooking.”

Through the eyes of Taras the Mede, a subject of the Parthian empire who reports on Pompeii for his government, we witness the eruption of the volcano. Taras is Alan Lloyd’s narrator, and his curiosity allows the reader to discover the real Pompeii, its geography, food, history and culture with a sense of compelling realism.

“To Eastern eyes, perhaps no trait was so marked in these people as immodesty.”

Alan Lloyd, an acclaimed historian and novelist, breathes life into the ghosts that haunt the empty streets, quiet courtyards and silent rooms of Pompeii while stirring the imagination of everyone who has seen the well preserved ruins of the ancient city.

“Above it, rose the cries of vendors hawking buns, sweets, and other edibles. The smell of baking was conspicuous.”

Alan Lloyd’s brand of popular history concentrates on the details and colour that make for engrossing reading, skilfully depicting a seminal moment in history and, above all, creating a readable narrative that will enthral readers of all ages. Combining Alan Lloyd’s extensive research with vividly imagined experiences of daily life Pompeii’s Secrets  is an engrossing adventure novel, as well as a fascinating historical survey.


Alan Lloyd is a widely published historian and novelist of over 30 books. Souvenir Press also publish his Marathon: The Crucial Battle That Created Western Democracy. ‘The Observer’ commented of Lloyd’s writing : “there’s not a single boring page”.

1 comment:

Jackie and Bob at pompeiiinpictures said...

We have had this (non-e) book on our bookshelves since the 1980's, we read it then and thoroughly enjoyed it, although felt it was very based on Bulwer-Lytton's style of story. In our copy there is a black and white photo entitled "interior of museum". Does anyone know if it will ever open again?

It is a very easy-read novel, but perhaps not necessarily to be recommended for archaeologists. It was published in 1975 and knowledge of Pompeii will have advanced greatly since then.

It would be interesting to see how the British Museum is using the book for their exhibition. We see the museum has and iphone/android app now available.

Well done for publishing an e-book on Pompeii and using technology to promote the city to a wider audience.

Jackie and Bob

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