Title- The Wolf Den
Author- Elodie Harper
Series- The Wolf Den trilogy
Published- 2021
Page Count- 451
Publishing House- Head of Zeus
Genre- historical fiction, feminist
Rating- 4/5 stars
Trigger warnings- sexual assault, violence and offensive language
About the Author
Elodie Harper is a journalist and prize-winning short story writer. Her story 'Wild Swimming' won the 2016 Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition, which was judged by Stephen King.
She is currently a reporter at ITV News Anglia, and before that worked as a producer for Channel 4 News. Her job as a journalist has seen her join one of the most secretive wings of the Church of Scientology and cover the far right hip hop scene in Berlin, as well as crime reporting in Norfolk where her first two novels were set – The Binding Song and The Death Knock.
Elodie studied Latin poetry both in the original and in translation as part of her English Literature degree at Oxford, instilling a lifelong interest in the ancient world. The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels about the lives of women in ancient Pompeii.
Taken from Elodie's website.
Plot
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 as a she-wolf, 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 her fellow she-wolves, 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 reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.
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 as a she-wolf, 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 her fellow she-wolves, 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 reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
I think this came out at the beginning of the year just as we went into Lockdown because I remember seeing it in the windows of bookshops and thinking it looked interesting. I was quite surprised by how quickly this came out in paperback as it can usually take 9-12 months for a book to come out in paperback. I bought a copy in Oxford during my birthday bookshop crawl in August. I am a big fan of historical fiction, I'd say it's one of my favourite genres. I tend to read a lot of Greek inspired historical fiction, so I was excited to read a Roman inspired one.
At first, I struggled with the cast of characters. I did read this book while I had a bad head cold, so I found concentrating on all the names and remembering who was who a bit challenging. However, these characters grew on me. No one was good or bad. They were just people, trying to survive in the brutal world they found themselves in. The protagonist, Amara, did some questionable things at times, including hurting the people she loved, but it was so she could live to see another day. Felix, the manager of the brothel, was set up to be this horrible person, but when you learnt of his backstory, it was clear that he was just filling the role that had been given to them. Everyone had layers and I enjoyed how realistic they felt. They were a very strong set of characters, wonderfully crafted by Elodie Harper.
One of the things I wasn't the biggest fan of was how Amara seemed to bounce from man to man. It felt like by the end of things, she had too many love interests (which is completely the wrong word, but I can't find the one I'm looking for). It seemed that nearly important man she met fell in love with her. It's a trope that gets used a lot and is personally not a favourite. This was one of the few qualms I had with this book.
I felt that this book captured the brutality of the situation the characters found themselves in. Elodie Harper really didn't shy away from throwing everything she possibly could at her characters. They went through so much. The two character deaths of Cressa and Dido were gut wrenching. Especially as Dido's came so soon after Cressa's. I think saying I liked how brutal this book was is the wrong way of phrasing it, but the honesty and brutality throughout this book kept you hooked. I had to know if the characters were okay. Yes, it did take me ten days to read this book because of how busy I was, but I made time to read it because I cared about these characters.
This is the first book in a trilogy and I am now impatiently waiting for the other two books to come out in paperback so I can inhale them. I love historical fiction with strong female characters, so this ticked all my boxes.
What did you think of the Wolf Den??
