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A review by ravina_b
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
4.0
Check this review out on my blog!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
On the surface, this book welded together my love for historical fiction and my fascination by Pompeii, and it ultimately fulfilled my expectations. Set in the infamous Lupanar of Pompeii, THE WOLF DEN tells a story of the ‘she wolves’ that lived and worked there.
Despite being set in Pompeii, I loved that it didn’t centre around Mount Vesuvius and that it instead offered insight into the daily lives of the people of Pompeii. I especially enjoyed the fact that this book was populated with fiercely strong women and focused on female bonding. The protagonist is a staunch feminist; she values her friends above all else, she understands the importance of women supporting women - especially in the face of male oppression - even when these very women are your rivals, and altogether this was not a book about men saving women, rather about women using the tools at their disposal to save themselves. We follow the life of Amara, but we also gain some understanding of the lives of the women around her and the various ways that women were captured and sold into this line of work. This, for me, was an excellent method of refocusing attention on the often overlooked members of the population of Pompeii (anyone remember Caecilius from the classics textbook?) and encouraging readers to reimagine what we thought we knew about the lost city. It is very easy for the lives of the people of Pompeii to be overshadowed by the eruption of Vesuvius, but Elodie Harper does a brilliant job at reminding us that these people did exist.
Overall, this is an easy read despite the sometimes crude language (bearing in mind that the novel is set in a brothel, you shouldn’t really be surprised by this). If you’re someone that needs a happy ending or all ends tied, then you might be a bit disappointed. I will definitely be reading the sequel upon its release.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
On the surface, this book welded together my love for historical fiction and my fascination by Pompeii, and it ultimately fulfilled my expectations. Set in the infamous Lupanar of Pompeii, THE WOLF DEN tells a story of the ‘she wolves’ that lived and worked there.
Despite being set in Pompeii, I loved that it didn’t centre around Mount Vesuvius and that it instead offered insight into the daily lives of the people of Pompeii. I especially enjoyed the fact that this book was populated with fiercely strong women and focused on female bonding. The protagonist is a staunch feminist; she values her friends above all else, she understands the importance of women supporting women - especially in the face of male oppression - even when these very women are your rivals, and altogether this was not a book about men saving women, rather about women using the tools at their disposal to save themselves. We follow the life of Amara, but we also gain some understanding of the lives of the women around her and the various ways that women were captured and sold into this line of work. This, for me, was an excellent method of refocusing attention on the often overlooked members of the population of Pompeii (anyone remember Caecilius from the classics textbook?) and encouraging readers to reimagine what we thought we knew about the lost city. It is very easy for the lives of the people of Pompeii to be overshadowed by the eruption of Vesuvius, but Elodie Harper does a brilliant job at reminding us that these people did exist.
Overall, this is an easy read despite the sometimes crude language (bearing in mind that the novel is set in a brothel, you shouldn’t really be surprised by this). If you’re someone that needs a happy ending or all ends tied, then you might be a bit disappointed. I will definitely be reading the sequel upon its release.