Agrippina, Nero, Seneca, the infernal trio

In his new novel, Patrick de Carolis attaches to tell us the life of a young girl, Paulina, born in Arelate (the ancient city of Arles), which will become the wife of the philosopher Seneca. The reader thus follows the various stages of the life of the girl, the end of his childhood, his engagement, his first marriage celebrated according to the traditional rites, then his life as a young matron, her widowhood and her meeting with Seneca who became his second husband.

At this stage of reading, Paulina is left "in the dark" to allow to tell through the eyes of the heroine's life the great Seneca. The latter, after his exile, indeed, returned to Rome and exercises, high office as it became the tutor of the young Nero. Follows the course of the dark machinations of Agrippina (mother of Nero), the conflict between him and his son and the Seneca trouble with these two characters as tortuous as Machiavellian.

The entire novel is based on a very thorough documentation and a thorough reading of the works of Seneca (plays, prose, philosophical treatises ...) which are mentioned throughout the novel.
What is most difficult is still the documentary style of the author too. Indeed, the latter in a player of scholarly concern multiplies descriptions and historical explanations. Unfortunately, these "weigh down" the whole and nothing to the plot level itself. As for the many political quarrels that mark the reign of Nero, they are treated the same way and seem complicated !!

Those who love antiquity will find the pleasant romance if they do not know many uses of this period but those who know more before this period of history will find all a bit "heavy".