In a collapsing empire built on wine, lies, corruption and absurd ambition, the old legionary Vespasianus claws his way from starving nobody to emperor of Rome.Together with the fiercely devoted Domitilla, a woman whose love survives every catastrophe imaginable, he creates a city, a dynasty, and eventually a disaster large enough to shake an empire. Around them grows a world of drunken senators, grotesque weddings, violent arena spectacles, scheming officials, starving citizens, wandering legionaries and impossible family loyalties.But beneath the absurdity lies something darker.A lonely man terrified of poverty.A woman who loves too deeply.A daughter raised between tenderness and madness.And a faithful dog who may have been the only true friend Vespasianus ever had.Darkly comic, brutal, ridiculous and strangely heartfelt, Vespasianus is a satirical historical novel about power, survival, love, corruption and the tragic stupidity of mankind.
