Lustrum: Robert Harris

It was Rome, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power - Cicero is consul; Caesar, his ruthless young rival; Pompey, the republic's greatest general; Crassus, its richest man; Cato, a political fanatic; Catilina, a psychopath; and, Clodius, an ambitious playboy. **PRE-ORDER AGRIPPA NOW: THE THRILLING NEW NOVEL FROM ROBERT HARRIS, COMING AUGUST 2026**'A pure thriller . . . wry, clever, thoughtful' OBSERVER'No one delivers thrilling yet timeless games of power, sex, fame and Rome like Robert Harris' SUNDAY TELEGRAPHRome, 63 BC. Seven men are struggling for power: Cicero the consul, Caesar his ruthless rival, Pompey the republic's greatest general, Crassus its richest man, Cato a political fanatic, Catilina a psychopath and Clodius an ambitious playboy.These real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions - are all interleaved in Lustrum, through its narrator Tiro, a confidential secretary to Cicero. He knows all his master's secrets - a dangerous position to be in.'Thoroughly engaging . . . The allure of power and the perils that attend it have seldom been so brilliantly anatomised in a thriller' Sunday Times