I loved and admired her loyalty to her friends as well as her determination to be free - even if some of the means she went to were very troublesome. But that is where she gets her real fire from; she wants to get out because she has known something else and she wants to get it back. It reminds you how much more brutal the world was, especially for women, and she does not try and soften that. The goddess Venus held a special place in Pompeii as the guardian deity of the city and is sometimes referred to as Pompeian Venus. Erotic frescoes: Like the real lupanar (pictured), the walls of Harper's Wolf Den are decorated with graphic frescoes showing women pleasuring men or 'being taken from behind'.

The volcanic eruption has preserved architecture, Roman mosaics and wall paintings, bronze statues (which in any other circumstance probably would have been melted down and repurposed), houses, baked goods (look up Pompeii bread! Amara has escaped her life as a slave in the town's most notorious brothel, but now her existence depends on the affections of her patron: a man she might not know as well as she once thought. Harper also tried to remain true to historical fact when it came to devising the women's backstories. Harperhas that rare knack of making the reader believe she was there, stylus in hand, chronicling what she witnessed.

While Amara's personal story is a work of fiction, the world in which she exists is steeped in vivid historical detail.

All of life up there on the stage, and actors have the courage to say what one cannot say elsewhere. In April, the festival known as the Vinalia was celebrated which was held in honour of Jupiter and Venus.Tyler Christopher's tragic life: General Hospital star who was married to Eva Longoria admitted he 'flatlined' three times in the grips of alcohol addiction. Pompeii is probably one of the most well-known ancient cities along with places such as Rome and Athens, but it differs from many ancient cities because in 79 CE, the local volcano known as Vesuvius, erupted, and covered the city and its occupants in lava and ash. Just because they have been sold as prostitutes, it does not mean that they are necessarily 100% good people, and the guy who does the pimping out is not necessarily all bad. While Pliny did not estimate how many people died, the event was said to be 'exceptional' and the number of deaths is thought to exceed 10,000.

They grew up in different ways, their own expectations of life, their own hopes their own relationships. Amara longs for the women she was forced to leave behind and worse, finds herself pursued by the man who once owned her. Kelly: I think it makes it more believable, and to have one of them acting in such a different way is really important.They are never enough to make him as likeable as the women but enough that you wonder how he became the way he did. All the women have easily worked their way into my heart and I'm so grateful to Harper for introducing the world to the possible women at the Lupanar. An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gas rushed down the side of the volcano at 124mph (199kph), burying victims and remnants of everyday life. Like with all space stations, it’ll put you far enough away that you’ll need to fly up to within 500m so you can dock. Rich with sly humor, wisdom, and sensory detail, and with an excellent plot that kept me turning the pages late into the night, The Wolf Den breathes life into the she-wolves, women working in ancient Pompeii's brothels whose place in history has traditionally been at the bottom of the rung, and gives them the humanity they deserve.