Nero Augustus, who became emperor in the New York Times best-selling author's The Confessions of Young Nero, now responds to the burning of Rome by rebuilding on an even grander scale. But he's suspected of wanting the glory for himself: who goes up must come down.

The second book in George's duology about the Roman emperor Nero (after The Confessions of Young Nero) draws from contemporary research as it chronicles the last four years of his life. George begins with the best-known event of Nero's reign, the devastating fire that destroyed much of Rome, but her Nero is hardly fiddling, he's helping the fire brigades. Nero thrives in the aftermath of the fire, punishing Christians as the perpetrators and then redesigning the city, with changes intended both to prevent future disasters as well as enhance and beautify the city's public spaces. Thus begins the golden era of his reign, where rebellions are minor and easily squelched, his marriage to the lovely Poppaea is harmonious, and he is adored by his subjects. But ancient Rome is a difficult place for emperors, and disloyalty and unrest always lurk in the background, eventually leading to Nero's downfall. George's Nero is larger than life, an aesthete and an engineer whose admiration of the arts and culture of the ancient Greeks transformed the Roman empire. This reimagining of the life of one of ancient Rome's most maligned and misunderstood leaders is dramatic, vivid, and epic, a must for readers of historical sagas. [See Prepub Alert, 5/21/18.]—Nanette Donohue, Champaign P.L., IL

This unwieldy tome follows The Confessions of Young Nero to revisit the last years of the emperor's life. Opening with Rome's destruction in the great fire of 64 CE, the author remakes Nero (37–68 CE), the last of Julius Caesar's dynasty, as a circumspect ruler in love with his second wife, Poppaea, but still enamored with his first love, the freed slave Acte, now a successful businesswoman. Nero here is a sensitive musician who agonizes over difficult decisions and longs for his better self, and George uses the events during this part of his reign—the slaughter of Christians, the plot to assassinate him, philosopher Seneca's subsequent forced suicide, his extravagant bank-busting rebuild of Rome—as a way to suggest he was in fact an introspective leader who did not take lightly the decisions he felt forced to make for the good of Rome. Wordy, often contemporary prose—Nero goes on a diet, has a cocktail to relax, contemplates his "getaway plans"—is employed to portray the ruler sympathetically, and to cast his retreat and death by suicide as a loss for Rome. The author's distinctive version of ancient history, a far cry from Tacitus, will either amuse or infuriate aficionados of the period. (Nov.)