Book Review ** City on Fire by Tracy L Higley

I enjoyed reading City on Fire: a Novel of Pompeii by Tracy L. Higley. This book was originally published as Pompeii: a City on Fire. It is well written and obvious that the author has done her background research.  There is a helpful list of words in the front that the reader can reference as they read.

The prologue of the book is set in Jerusalem, AD 70, where Ariella is a 16 year old Jewish girl who falls into the hands of the Romans as they are taking over the city.  The reader is then taken to Rome, nine years later where Ariella is now a slave for the house of Valerius, how she escapes from the evils that she has to endure there and poses as a boy, Ari, to join the gladiators.  She is able to escape detection as the troupe of gladiators move from Rome to Pompeii. Upon arrival in Pompeii, Ari, tries to leave the gladiators and regain her own identity, but is unable to successfully do so. An old Jewish man who does cooking for the troupe is the only person in the gladiator troupe that realizes who Ari really is and takes Ari under his wing for protection.  When he is injured, he directs Ari to take him to the group of Christians in Pompeii.  Cato, a new citizen in Pompeii, who was formerly a politician in Rome, finds Ariella as she is trying to regain her identity and tries to help out.  Eventually he is able to purchase her from the gladiators as a slave for his household without letting them know that she is actually a girl.  He brings her to his household and gives her as much freedom as he can. Cato and Ariella are both intrigued with the group of Christians. Meanwhile, Vesuvius is preparing for eruption with small warning signs that everyone is ignoring. Neither Cato nor Ariella can predict what will happen when her past comes back to haunt her in the present.  Will they be able to escape with their lives and the lives of their loved ones when confronted with Ariella’s past and Vesuvius erupts?

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson through the BookSneeze® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.