A.D. 62: Pompeii by Rebecca East is the time travel story of a twenty-first century woman named Miranda who volunteers for an experiment to go back in time to observe life in the past.

A history expert with no real ties to the modern world she is nevertheless unprepared to find herself trapped in the ancient world of Pompeii before the historically famous disaster which destroyed it forever.

Her longed for adventure begins with Miranda inadvertently falling into the sea and being brought to the shores by the local fisherman.  They do not believe the tale she has fabricated to explain herself and she finds herself being sold as a slave. 

Befriended by another slave by the name of Demetrius both he and Miranda and brought by the Steward of the house of Marcus Tullius.

Although it is not the ideal glimpse of the past that she wanted Miranda settles in and begins to set about completing her task in the past, namely to find something from the past to bring back to the future and also to leave something in the past to prove that she was there when she has returned.

But things go very wrong when she finds herself unable to return to the future and a runaway slave in an ancient land.

Caught and returned to Marcus's house she finds herself closely watched and trapped not only in the past but also in her unwanted role as a slave.

She also finds that as a slave, men in the household try to treat her as their property.  With men making advances to her from all quarters Miranda's position is very precarious and she has to learn to tread a fine line where she does not make enemies with the men around her but does not unwittingly encourage them either.

But life for Miranda is not all bad and she finds friends not only amongst the other slaves but also with Tullia the daughter of the household.  A young girl whose life is arranged for her she is drawn to Miranda to hear stories of women who take charge of their own lives.  But Marcus, the master of the house, is far from happy about the influence his new slave has over his daughter.  He cannot however deny that some of her stories are enjoyable and he listens to her tales as avidly as his daughter.

Miranda soon finds that she is attracted to Marcus but not only is he married to the vindictive Holconia he already has a lover amongst the slaves in the form of Iris. 

With the attention of Marcus upon her Miranda finds herself elevated in the household and her storytelling and prophesising earn her the respect and thanks of her master.  It also earns her his love. 

But nothing can seem to change the fact that Miranda is a slave and Marcus is her master.  He allows her the freedom that she craves but she finds it is only an illusion and he will do anything to keep her with him, even at the risk of losing her love. 

But when he loses her entirely Miranda finds out just how much she means to her lover and what lengths he will go to to get her back.

With a strong historical setting and a wealth of information about the ancient city of Pompeii this novel is unique in its setting.  Well drawn characters add to the story and in particular the character of Marcus springs to mind as a wonderful three dimensional character.  Not perfect by any means he is a man of his time with many of the faults of the age but even so he is essentially a good man who perhaps needs a little modern encouragement to deal with the faults.

The secondary characters are also a delight and although they never take over the story enough to intrude on the lives of the central characters they are nonetheless powerfully brought to life by Rebecca East.

A wonderfully original and enchanting novel.

RATING : 

(if you need an explanation of the hearts ratings see my homepage)

Links to  Online Stores

Visit Rebecca East's website