#FridayReads: Agrippa by Robert Harris

Agrippa was a mere commoner, a plebeian, his father a humble Stoic, but he earned the respect and fear of his peers. He defended a bullied young boy, Octavius, who turned out to be the nephew of Caesar himself, a chance encounter that would change the trajectory of his life. He eventually joined the ranks of the legionnaires and marched against their enemies. His prowess on the battlefield spoke for itself, and Caesar relied on him to protect his favored nephew. When Caesar was murdered in the Senate, Octavius inherited the empire in name only. To assume the mantle he would have to fight for it, and Agrippa, forever by his side, would be his closest advisor and the merciless agent of his military will.

As gripping and full of intrigue as his bestselling novel Conclave, Agrippa is Robert Harris’s monumental return to the world of ancient Rome on the precipice of dictatorship, a novel for our times.