From the bestselling author of Fatherland and Pompeii, comes the
first novel of a trilogy about the struggle for power in ancient Rome.
In his "most accomplished work to date" (Los Angeles Times), master of
historical fiction Robert Harris lures readers back in time to the
compelling life of Roman Senator Marcus Cicero. The re-creation of a
vanished biography written by his household slave and righthand man,
Tiro, Imperium follows Cicero's extraordinary struggle to attain supreme
power in Rome.
On a cold November morning, Tiro opens the door to find a terrified,
bedraggled stranger begging for help. Once a Sicilian aristocrat, the
man was robbed by the corrupt Roman governor, Verres, who is now trying
to convict him under false pretenses and sentence him to a violent
death. The man claims that only the great senator Marcus Cicero, one of
Rome's most ambitious lawyers and spellbinding orators, can bring him
justice in a crooked society manipulated by the villainous governor. But
for Cicero, it is a chance to prove himself worthy of absolute power.
What follows is one of the most gripping courtroom dramas in history,
and the beginning of a quest for political glory by a man who fought his
way to the top using only his voice--defeating the most daunting figures
in Roman history.
