Set in Provence at three different critical moments of Western Civilisation
- the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century the Black Death in the fourteenth & the Second World War in the twentieth
- The Dream of Scipio follows the fortunes of three men: Manlius Hippomanes a Gallic aristocrat obsessed with the preservation of Roman civilisation Olivier de Noyen a poet & Julien Barneuve an intellectual who joins the Vichy government. The story of each man is woven through the narrative linked by the classical text that gives the book its title & by each mans love for an extraordinary woman. Dense dark erudite & yet like An Instance of the Fingerpost utterly compelling The Dream of Scipio confirms Iain Pears as one of Britains most imaginative novelists.