Agrippa: A Novel of Ancient Rome's Descent into Dictatorship

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Conclave and Dictator, a gripping tale of ancient Rome’s descent into dictatorship

“Thrilling. . . . Agrippa is a swift-paced romp. . . . Politics may be ‘a filthy business,’ as Agrippa observes, but in the hands of Mr. Harris, it is a drama of endless interest.” —The Wall Street Journal

He was born feet first, a dangerous way to enter the world. His mother did not survive, and the nickname Agrippa—mother killer—stuck. But the schoolyard taunting only served to harden his resolve and hone his predilection for aggression. In time, the name lost its sting and became instead a mark of his invincibility. It came to shape his destiny.

Agrippa was a mere commoner, but when he defended a bullied young boy, Octavius, he set his life on an entirely new path, for Octavius turned out to be the nephew of Julius Caesar himself. Caesar took a liking to the young Agrippa and relied on him to protect Octavius. Then Caesar was murdered in the Senate. The fate of the Republic hung in the balance.

Octavius inherited the empire in name only. To assume the mantle, he would have to fight for it. Agrippa was the brawn and Octavius was the guile. Together, they would be unstoppable.

As enthralling and full of intrigue as Robert Harris’s bestselling novel Conclave, Agrippa is his monumental return to the world of ancient Rome on the precipice of dictatorship—a novel for our times.

ROBERT HARRIS is the author of sixteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy—Imperium, Conspirata, and Dictator—Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2, Act of Oblivion, and Precipice. Several of his books have been adapted into films, including The Ghost and the Academy Award–winning Conclave. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.