A very evocative portrait of Roman Pompeii told from the perspective of Amara, a doctor‘s daughter who was sold into slavery after his death and is now a brothel slave. It‘s a brutal life and the narrative doesn‘t hold back on the brutality, yet there is also moments of pleasure and deep friendship between Amara and fellow brothel slave Dido. The plot might be too slow for some, but I thought it set up the story well for the second book.