Book description
A. D. 66: Having been falsely implicated in a plot to assassinate the
emperor Nero, Titus Petronius has a choice: await the executioner at
dawn, or die a noble Roman death by his own hand. Deciding that his will
be a suicide like no other the world has ever seen, he summons a small
circle of intimate friends to his magnificent villa on the enchanting
Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy. There, over the course of a balmy
autumn's night, Petronius throws the party of a lifetime. As they feast
on course after course of the most sumptuous and exotic fare the empire
has to offer, his guests are expressly forbidden to dwell on the
imminent tragedy; instead, they are enjoined to sing, eat, drink, and
celebrate. But as his life dwindles to a few precious hours, Petronius
himself cannot shake off the ghosts of his past or his regret over
mistakes that can no longer be set right. With the fateful dawn
approaching, he recalls the great love affair of his life, and his years
as Nero's "Arbiter of Elegance." Not until the very end will
he bequeath his magnum opus,
The Satyricon
, to posterity.
Exquisitely written and profoundly moving, The Uncertain Hour
is a vivid portrait of life in ancient Rome and a gripping entrée into
the mind of a great man during his final hours.
PRAISE:
"Lush and sorrowful...splendid...lusciously described...
gorgeous."-The
New York
Observer
"The Uncertain Hour
is that very rare thing - a historical novel of love and ideas not only
free of pedantry, but also serious and entertaining. Browner has done a
fine and meticulous job borrowing from the actual "Satyricon"
dishes for Petronius' lovingly described last supper...a rewarding new
novel."-Los Angeles
Times
Jesse Browner is a writer and translator who
lives in New York. He is the author of the novels
Conglomeros (1992) and Turnaway (1996), and of
The Duchess Who Wouldn t Sit Down, a widely praised
history of hospitality in Western civilization. He has been a
contributor to the New York Times Book Review, Food and
Wine magazine, Nest magazine, New York magazine,
and others.
