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After a tragic shooting on the campus of the University of Texas, classics professor Sophie Chase agrees to go to Italy to help with the Papyrus Project. This involves using technology to read documents buried in the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and charred so badly that they have not been heretofore readable. The cult with which her ex-boyfriend was involved seems to be interested in one of the documents. At the Night Villa Sophie finds danger, terror, and dark mysteries while searching for information about a slave girl who lived there in 79 AD. Elegant writing defines this book. It is insightful and engrossing. There is a wealth of information about Naples, the Isle of Capri, the eruption of Vesuvius, and the town of Herculaneum but none of it is obtrusive and in no way does it interfere with an absorbing story. This is not a fast-moving book nor is it a quick read. It is a slow, leisurely trip to Italy and to the past. If the reader is looking for fast-moving excitement, this is not the book for her. The characters are very well-drawn and multi-dimensional. Sophie, who tells the story, reveals to the reader a great deal about herself, and she has both strengths and vulnerabilities. Agnes, the student assistant, is young and eager and very bright. Elgin Lawrence, the leader of the project and a former lover of Sophie, is urbane, and a little distant. And the millionaire who is funding the expedition, John Lyros, is in many ways a mystery. His eyes are like a mirror; the viewer sees herself reflected in them. The most engaging character of all is Phineas Aulus, the author of the diary which the excavators have found in the villa and are now translating. The author has an excellent sense of the past and ability to depict place. The setting is very well done and the reader will feel as though she actually is in Naples or deep in the villa with extraordinary art on the walls or on the Isle of Capri where the expedition members stay. And the study of cults, both modern and ancient, is extremely thought-provoking. I was absolutely absorbed in this book and both the ancient and the modern stories.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, August 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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