Wonderful historical fiction. I wish there were more works in English translation by this author. ( )

Wonderful novel set in, I suspect, Roman Pax Julia in Lusitania (Beja in present-day Portugal) about a magistrate reflecting on his final tumultuous year in office as a dictator of a fortress town during the rule of Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180).

It is a reflexive narrative in the first person, whereby the retired magistrate (duumvir, Lucius) looks back on his final year in office in Tarcisis, a reminiscence triggered by a visit of a former plaintiff in this city (Proserpinus, as a reader we suspect he has played a role in the dramatic events about to be unveiled, but we are not sure what role – an example of a the subtle suspense that de Carvalho spins). Lucius and his silent, but loyal, wife Mara are confronted by a whirlpool of events that inexorably amount to a crisis. An upstart baker cum tavern owner, a freedman, starts a populist campaign to become aedile; an obscure sect (Christians) wins the daughter of a respectable equestrian family for its cause; a horde of Moors invades southern Lusitania and emerges at the city’s gates; a disaffected, fatally ill, Roman equestrian citizen protests the demolition of his villa for the sake of strengthening the city’s defence by committing suicide in a public manner; a duplicitous senator moves behind the scenes to secure his legacy (in the end by adopting the populist baker as his heir), and a group of decemvirs absconds its responsibility by bombarding Lucius to sole dictator as only magistrate. Lucius tries to navigate all these pressures and power houses, taking unpopular measures that prove key in saving the city, at the expense of his own reputation and career. ( )

I first read this book in May this year [2013]. I just finished rereading it [July 2013] and I have increased the stars from 4 to 5.

Languid. Thought-provoking.

This novel takes place in the Roman province of Lusitania [present-day Portugal], in a small town, Tarcisis, which the author informs us never existed. We first see Lucius Valerius Quintius, the main character, in his country villa with his wife, Mara. Taking a walk along the riverbank, he sees a slave boy drawing a fish in the sand. Upon Lucius' questioning, the frightened boy runs off, spilling the berries he had been gathering. Later, back home, Lucius decides to write down what had happened when he had been duumvir [magistrate] in the town, in the days of Marcus Aurelius. Yes, there is "action", and plenty of it--the arrest of a bandit, an attack on Tarcisis by Moors from North Africa, a siege that follows, and discovery and trial of Christians.

The main thrust of the story is the psychology of Lucius's character. We read every thought, every doubt, every agony over every decision. Lucius is a good, honest, idealistic man, with his honorable code of right and wrong. He wrestles with himself. Sometimes his loving, loyal wife interjects her common sense.

He is attracted to and is obsessed by Iunia, the daughter of an old friend he had grown up with. She is the charismatic, zealot lay leader of Christians in the town. He doesn't know why he has the feelings he does and tells us so. Any interaction between the two is completely chaste. The story represents a conflict between idealism [Lucius] and Realpolitik [the other civil servants in authority, a candidate for the office of aedile, and a senator]. You could almost take it as an allegory for today.

The details of small-town life were described so marvellously and so vividly. What stood out was the moonlight walk Lucius takes with Aulus, the town centurion, along the walls of the town and the aqueduct. They are expecting an attack and want to investigate the walls for weakness. I also remember Lucius's visit to Rome with a delegation from his home town, years before. His private conversations, with Marcus Aurelius then and with the senator, years later, mirror each other.

Lucius was not 'heroic' but very human and very sympathetic. This novel was thoughtful and absolutely unforgettable! Most highly recommended! ( )

Quiet study of a magistrate in an out of the way Roman province, later Portugal. He’s devoted to Marcus Aurelius, who turns out to be more a realist than himself… I found it a believable novel, perhaps because it avoids the sensational. Not that it lacks plot or drama.

With this one I felt the need for a translator’s note. Maybe I ought to lie back and trust the translator, but in the early stages I was distracted by uncertainty over an oddity of expression, whether theequivalent is in the Portuguese... Our magistrate is writing memoirs. Near the end of the book, while trying to compose a missive fit for the eyes of Marcus Aurelius, he himself talks of his provincial style, his eloquence that comes out grandiloquence. I had before then decided that he tries to emulate the writings of Marcus Aurelius, not always felicitously (I thought of Dostoyevsky’s provincial narrators). But when it’s a translation and not an original before me, I’m more cautious in how to interpret stylistic features, and I wanted the reassurance of a report on these in the original -- or the translator's idea of them, that he has rendered in English. ( )

History - good read. ( )