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Fatherland by Robert Harris

This is a terrifying book in some ways. Yet it almost seems normal in the context of Nazi Germany. That is why it is terrifying.

The story is almost a “normal” crime novel about a privileged class murder except that the privileged class is one of mass murderers. The premise of the what-if question posed by the novel is easy to believe; also hard to understand. It touches on:

  • the nature of power
  • the way International relations almost require turning a blind eye to atrocities
  • the control of information
  • propaganda and its insidious influence on popular thought
  • suppression of ideas and free thought
  • career vs principle

It is a very good thing to think of what might have happened if only a few things in the past were different.


Pompeii by Robert Harris

This is the first Robert Harris book I read. It started me on a reading journey that I have not regretted.

What I love about this book is the way it tells a story of immense scale and impact (eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum) with the history and well shaped cultural insights being a background to a love story and tale of Imperial values, in what is arguably the peak civilisation outside the past 200 years.

I highly recommend this book and author.


Genre: Historical