Cutter's Island

“This vivid short novel . . . of Caesar’s youthful adventure. . . . Matches the film Gladiator in its vigorous, viscerally affecting depiction of ancient Rome.” —Publishers Weekly

Most of us are familiar with the Caesar of Shakespeare and Shaw. We know him primarily as the manipulative warlord and statesman. But what about the Caesar of Plutarch and Suetonius—historians who dealt with Caesar as a young man? Here, in this stunning novel, written with all the excitement and eloquence of an epic poem, we find Caesar at the age of twenty-five captured by pirates as he sails to the Island of Rhodes to study rhetoric with the renowned Apollonias Moon.

“An alternately rousing and touching adventure tale that offers an intriguing glimpse into the future dictator's psyche...[and] a panoramic view of Rome. . . . Stirring.” —Booklist

“ . . . A lyric, swift and moving, swashbuckling tale” —Robert Fagles, award-winning translator of The Iliad

“Cutter’s Island is a perfect flawless gem, without a false note anywhere.” —Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire