The Emperor's Virgin - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440123402 ISBN 13: 9780440123408

Publisher: Dell Publishing

Synopsis

The time is A.D. 95. Cruel and crafty Domitian rules Imperial Rome. His empress is Domitia, bold in the ways of pleasing all men - not just the debauched emperor. His mistress is his niece, the lovesick Julia.
Between the poisoned tongue of Prosecutor Messalinus and the ready knife of Captain Geta, head of the Imperial Guards, few of the emperor’s favorites - whether male or female - live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.
Into this glittering and corrupt court strides Maximus Marcus, an ambitious yet idealistic commander, summoned from the provinces to serve his emperor in his highest councils. His initiation into the intrigues of court and the perversions of Rome teach him his bitterest lesson: In a corrupt society, to win is to lose, and a person’s good qualities are the surest tool of their destruction.
Sharpening the growing conflict between the emperor and a disillusioned Marcus is their mutual desire for Rome’s chief vestal virgin, Cornelia, pure and untouchable, sworn to a life of chastity. Though not immune to the temptations of the heart, Cornelia knows all too well the penalty for breaking her vestal virgin’s vow: to be buried alive. Yet, it is her compassion to rescue those she values from the emperor’s madness that ensnares her in his net.
The Emperor's Virgin vividly portrays, with intelligence and style, the splendor, brutality and casual eroticism of a society as intent on destroying itself as on dominating the world. Based on historical fact infused with creative vision, it is an allegory of love, lust and power, as old as civilization yet startlingly modern in uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of humans, both privileged and enslaved, when forced into a daily struggle for survival.



PRAISE FOR The Emperor’s Virgin

"A deserved bestseller . . . embellished with much rich historical detail and full of the love and anguish that make a well-written historical romance next-to-impossible to put down” - Maclean’s.

“The most talked about novel of the year”- Edmonton Journal.

“Her book catches fire. Her characters are contemporary people, trapped in a sick society that is visibly deteriorating around them, struggling to maintain their sanity and essential decency” - Toronto Sun.

“Fraser has used her research and a crisp, powerful writing style. . . .studded with gem-like surprises that create a vivid, fascinating portrait of a Rome that is astonishing in its similarity to North American life”- Ottawa Journal.

“Sylvia Fraser can certainly tell a story. Here, then, is Rome, pulsing, and grown greasy in turpitude and depravity. . .there are intrigues, assassination plots, assorted acts of dark villainy, gladiatorial combats, chariot races, pitched battles among armies, sadomasochistic rites, incest, seductions, rapes, tortures, and mutilations. They keep the plot humming. . . The result is a theatrical, raw, exhausting and densely-textured novel. . . diverting, exciting and stylish" - Toronto Star.

“Sylvia Fraser makes history breathe”- Ottawa Citizen.

About this title

About the Author

Sylvia Fraser was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1935. Upon graduation from the University of Western Ontario in 1957, she embarked on a career in journalism, winning two Women’s Press Club Awards and, in 1969, the University of Western Ontario President’s Medal for journalism.

With the publication of Pandora in 1972, Fraser began her career as a fiction writer. Her novels, some set in contemporary times, others set in historical eras, study the remarkable ability of human beings to inflict harm on one another and their equally remarkable but rarer ability to heal and even to save one another.

In My Father’s House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing, Fraser explores and explains the pain of her own childhood.

Sylvia Fraser resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dell Publishing
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0440123402
• ISBN 13: 9780440123408
• Binding: Paperback