About this episode

Mary and Charlotte interview Robert Harris about his novel 'Agrippa' and its historical context.

Mary and Charlotte talk to best-selling author Robert Harris about his new novel ‘Agrippa’. Robert Harris has published 16 novels, of which nine have been made into films, including The Ghost Writer, Enigma and the Oscar-winning papal thriller Conclave. Five of Robert’s novels are set in Ancient Rome: the Cicero Trilogy, Pompeii and Agrippa.  Robert discovered Agrippa while researching the Cicero Trilogy and became increasingly interested in this decisive, but largely forgotten figure, whose legacy is everywhere in Ancient Rome. He describes what interested him in the story: the friendship between the aristocratic Augustus and his plebeian sidekick, and the tension that inevitably developed between the two. He compares Augustus and Agrippa to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, only with higher stakes.  Further reading: We covered the history of this period in the last episode, with further reading in the shownotes. If you haven’t read Robert’s other Roman novels, they are all available in paperback: Pompeii (Arrow pb, 2009) (A younger Mary Beard “fact-checked for the hard-back version of this – though didn’t find many mistakes!) The Cicero Trilogy, Imperium, Lustrum and…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mary, Charlotte

Guest: Robert Harris

Topics covered

• Ancient Rome
• historical fiction
• friendship
• political tension
• literature

Keywords

• Robert Harris
• Agrippa
• Ancient Rome
• Cicero Trilogy
• historical novels

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hutchinson Heinemann

Books & works: Agrippa, The Ghost Writer, Enigma, Conclave, Pompeii, Cicero Trilogy

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