Review | The Wolf Den

by Elodie Harper

Published : 13th May 2021

Publisher : Head of Zeus

Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback, Paperback

Genre : Historical Fiction

{ 𝐚𝐝: 𝐩𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 / 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐜 }

* All words highlighted in Grey are affiliate links to either purchase from a range of sellers or links to the authors sites. Where ever possible I will try and provide different versions of the book on all purchase sites.

Synopsis

Sold by her mother. Enslaved in Pompeii's brothel.

Determined to survive.

Her name is Amara. Welcome to the Wolf Den...

Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For now her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara's spirit is far from broken. By day, she walks the streets with the Wolf Den's other women, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learnt that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels reimagining the lives of women who have long been overlooked.

Thank you @HoZbooks for this stunning copy and totally unputdownable historical read

My Review

This truly is a Golden Age; for gold High place is purchased; love is brought and sold.

Ovid, The Art of Love II

Amara is a slave. She wasn't raised this way. She had a loving family, her parents earned enough money to live comfortably and the only thing she had to seriously consider was howe many children she would have and who she would marry. That is until her father, a well respected local doctor catches a virus from one of his patients and dies. Debts owed are not paid and Amara and her mother fall into financial ruin. Her mothers only way out is to sell her daughter to a patient of her husbands as a house slave.

Her mother even hides the money she was paid for her daughter within her clothes with the hope she can buy her own freedom but even though he promised to look after Amara this was all a lie. He steals her money and uses her as a concubine for a year until his wife gets so jealous that she sells her off as a whore.

This is how Amara ends up living in a brothel selling her self for sex as one of the she-wolves for her pimp Felix in Pompeii.

But Amara is Sharp, clever, and extremely resourceful, all of these things she is forced to hide for as a she-wolf, her only value she now possesses lies in the desire she can arose from others. But Amara’s spirit is not broken. By day, she resigns herself to walking the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding a little comfort in there companionship and dreams of freedom they share.

By night the streets of Pompeii are alive with drunken men. Out there, even the lowest slave can change her fate if she finds the right customer. The she-wolves have all learnt that everything within the city has a price, but how much will it cost them to get there and what will it take to achieve it?

Why I Loved It

This is the first book in a new trilogy. I literally devoured this one within a couple of days. My excitement to read this book was huge and my expectations extremly high.

The author is well known on her Instagram for posting beautiful pictures of Pompeii that she has taken herself, and this clearly shows within her writing. The description and atmospheric feeling you get from reading about ancient Pompeii really takes you there and makes you feel like you are experiencing what you are reading, especially intriguing is the historical facts that are woven throughout.

Each character brings a different edge to the story, some like Amara have previously lived free lives and have ended up in the brothel, selling themselves under the rule of another, whilst others have been slaves before and accept their life a little easier.

In addition to losing their freedom, slavery also brings a loss of personal identity. On being brought by Felix, the She Wolves are all given new names, they can no longer speak in their native language and have to communicate in Latin instead. You can really see that a lot of research went into this book and that is just one of the reasons that makes it so mesmerisingly brilliant.

This was a five star read for me and I can not wait for the second instalment.

Rating

★★★★★

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Meet the author

I was born and raised in northeast Kansas, growing up in a small log cabin nestled deep in the woods. This picturesque retreat, where I lived until early adulthood, frames most of my early memories.

I began writing seriously in 2015, after attending a moving lecture given by Elizabeth Gilbert. She was on tour for Big Magic, a game-changing book for creatives. Soon after her talk, I enrolled in my first online creative writing class. I haven't looked back since.

I'm an avid traveler, though my heart is stuck in London. Other favorite destinations include Thailand, Ireland, Germany, Belize, and Grand Cayman.

I graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in finance, and I've spent the last decade in various corporate finance functions. I love my day-job: numbers and spreadsheets appeal to my analytical side.

When I'm not writing, you'll likely find me in the kitchen, the yoga studio, or running outdoors in the Florida heat.

I'm married to my best friend, Marc. We're proud residents of the Sunshine State, where we live with our "silky hair" miniature dachshund, Zoe.