The Forever Girl

A romantic, yet unsparing and authentic novel of the destruction of the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum that far surpasses The Last Days of Pompeii. Young Kara is taken into captivity after her village is overrun by Roman legionaries and their allies. Within the space of a few months, she goes from cherished daughter of loving parents to an orphaned and exploited Roman slave. At the age of eight, she is cast adrift in a culture that has little regard for human life, especially slave life.    One asset, Kara's mane of beautiful golden hair, keeps her alive because of its value in producing the blond wigs favored by fashionable Roman women. She is purchased by Agrippina, the wife of Senator Titus Claudius Eprius Marcellus for precisely this purpose. Along with the story of Kara, the novel follows the life of a Roman soldier who participated in the destruction of her tribe; plus Anicius, a slave who murders his master when he is denied the freedom that was promised him, setting off a chain of tragedies; the gifted young writer Tacitus, who struggles to make a difference, in the literature and politics of his age; the tormented former slave Aurelius tries to come to terms with a shameful past; the drunken fortune teller Paccia; the ambitious magistrate, Lepidus Salvus; the visionary Senator Marcellus, his privileged wife Agrippina, and their spoiled daughter, Amelia. Towering over all is immortal Vesuvius, serenely unconcerned with the frantic, haunted lives of the human beings at her base. As she grows older, Kara is charged with attending her wealthy Roman family's prized grandson and heir, Justus. Because she loves the babe, Kara is happy and filled with pleasure in performing this duty. This wins her the love of Marcus, the child's father, but also the hatred of Agrippina, who schemes to consign Kara to the brothel. On the day the fatal eruption occurs, it is the infant Justus that Kara risks her life to protect.