A.D. 62: Pompeii
 Rebecca East
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 iUniverse
 ISBN: 059526882X
  Amazon's price is: Paperback - $16.95
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When a time travel experiment goes awry, a 21st century woman is stranded in Pompeii & sold as a slave.

It is hard to categorize this novel. Partly because of its element of time travel, which would put it into “science fiction”, except A.D.62: Pompeii is more an exploration of an ancient culture as seem through a modern archaeologist's eyes, as well as a tale about the power of story telling.

Thirty-something Miranda isn't comfortable or happy in her life. Her studies at Harvard have steeped her in classical archaeology with a good working knowledge of Latin & the Roman world. She has always longed for distant days far from “the sound and fury of modern times.” She has also longed to be a heroine. When a group of researchers discover the means to transport people back in time, she signs up. She is the perfect guinea pig--no family, no marriage, no ties.

With her knowledge of the era, much training & fitted with an escape disk inserted beneath the skin on her arm, the great day arrives, & off she spins through time to the Roman world of 62 A.D...

...& lands in the Mare Nostrum (Mediterranean Sea) in a bright afternoon, where she spies a small fishing vessel, & is hauled on board in the fishermen's net.

& so into the legends Miranda goes. Among the people of that time, she stands out with her pale hair & complexion, & unheard of language. In those civilized days everyone has their place, the oddity of a single woman with no family immediately casts her lot as a slave to be traded for money, & passed from broker to broker. Then she befriends another slave, Demetrius, a scribe & witty fellow who has fallen on hard time. He is injured & Miranda helps to heal him. He also knows the ways of the world. After he is bought he convinces his new owner to also purchase this “ugly” waif.

Miranda is bought & brought into the household of landowner, Marcus Tullius & his wife Halconia, their son & daughter & their slaves. Now she is a member of a family & must learn the intricacies of an Upstairs/Downstairs life, Roman style.

A.D.62: Pompeii is an enchanting, down-to-earth “what if” story about a woman who becomes a Scheherazade from the fabled land of Atlantis, in her new life, weaving ancient stories into new life for her masters, with one difference, she knows what is going to happen, & when things gets difficult, she plays that card...carefully, & becomes a heroine, not without consequences!

A fascinating, well-researched immersion into a far simpler world where a complex society of arranged marriages, slavery, politics & relationships keep women in their places, slaves at the whim of their owner's mood, & love & morality is something else entirely.

Rebecca East has told a rich, mature & satisfying story. I eagerly await her next book.

Do catch my Interview with Rebecca East.
(06/15/03)

Rebecca