Author:Anthony Trollope,Gregg Hecimovich
In the fourth of the 'Palliser' stories, Trollope follows Phineas Finn's return to the dangerous world of Westminster politics. When his political rival is murdered, Phineas is thrown under suspicion and eventually finds himself standing trial at the Old Bailey. The situation is complicated by the presence of two women in his life: his old flame Lady Laura, whose estranged husband is determined to destroy Phineas's reputation, and the wealthy and enimgatic widow, Madame Max.
Weir’s sympathetic and detailed biography reassesses the life of a woman whose role in public life…has been underrated by historians
—— New StatesmanThe finest historical novel ever written by an American
—— Washington PostIt would be easy to over-praise this novel; but there does not seem any adequate reason why this temptation should be resisted
—— EconomistA novel of extraordinary range, yet of extraordinary minuteness, that manages never to sacrifice one quality for the other
—— Financial TimesWilliams has fashioned an always engaging, psychologically convincing work of fiction - a consistent and well-realized portrait
—— New YorkerA highly imaginative account of the life and times of Augustus-a brilliant novel
—— Library JournalA brilliant epistolary novel about Octavius Caesar and ancient Rome...all three [of John Williams'] novels show a similar narrative arc: a young man's initiation, vicious male rivalries, subtler tensions between men and women, fathers and daughters, and finally a bleak sense of disappointment, even futility.
—— New York TimesExquisite...brims with great lines
—— Chicago TribuneA vividly imagined re-creation of classical Rome, but its intuitive grasp of the experience of immense power makes it an unusual, and superior, novel
—— Boston GlobeThere could be no better year than 2014 to rediscover this one
—— Mary Beard , Times Literary Supplement