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Cutter's Island: Caesar in Captivity
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About the BookHere, in this stunning first novel, written with all the excitement and eloquence of an epic poem, we find Caesar at the age of 25 captured by pirates as he sails to the Island of Rhodes to study rhetoric with the renowned Apollonius Molon. In the encounter with Cutter-the clever, bloodthirsty pirate and his band of assassins-Caesar finds a new strength of purpose and an unexpected vehicle for him to hone his tactical skills, something he must develop if he is to equal or surpass his contemporaries. In eloquent and burnished prose, Vincent Panella's Caesar tells the story of his kidnapping and ransom-and his solemn vow to avenge his forty days of captivity. In his final encounter with the wily pirate and his men, Caesar is challenged to become himself at last. Reviews"Cutter's Island is a perfect flawless gem, without a false note anywhere. In prose as spare as Caesar's own, Mr. Panella makes surfaces reflect surfaces, with the sense of bottomless depths beneath. . . . By turns brutal and rhapsodic, poetic and obscene, Cutter's Island creates a world so convincing you feel it on your skin. Excellent!"––Steven Pressfield ". . . the psychology he gives his figures rings true, as do the details he summons of this long-ago world, including those of its cruelty."––Kirkus "Young Caesar comes of age-as politique and poet, sensualist and man of affirmation-in . . . a lyric, swift and moving, swashbuckling tale."––Robert Fagles "Panella crafts an alternately rousing and touching adventure tale that offers an intriguing glimpse into the future dictator's psyche."––Booklist "Panella's opus matches the film Gladiator in its vigorous, viscerally affecting depiction of ancient Rome."––Publishers Weekly |
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