Product Description

Summer AD 80. Flavia and her friends receive an invitation to stay at the luxurious Villa Limona in Surrentum, where their friend Pulchra has a mystery she desperately wants them to solve. After a year of hardship and disasters, people are in cheerful spirits - there is even talk of love and romance. But it seems one of the guests has murder in mind. Can Flavia and her friends track down the would-be poisoner before it's too late?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49009 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Caroline Lawrence is American. She won a scholarship to Cambridge to read Classical Archaeology, then did a degree in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College, London. She lives with her husband, a graphic designer, by the river in London and is active as a speaker in schools and at book festivals.

Customer Reviews

She's done it again
So you've read the rest of the books, watched as Flavia is fed to the crocodiles in the coliseum, laughed at Tigris's untimely bladder problem and cried as well loved charcters meet there end.
But now comes the next instalment, how could it possibly live up the the action packed chase of Fugitive or the wish-ful suspense of assasins? I can't tell you how, but it manages it, and it does it brilliantly.

All emotions are thrown in as the four friends are sent back to the fateful Villa Limona where 7 guests are residing. 3 hanndsome men, 3 beautiful women and 1 boy that we've been waiting for since "Tasks".

Caroline Lawrence has added yet another amazng book to her cult series "Roman Mysteries" and I for one will be re-reading my set until "Charioteer" comes out in around 6 months time.

Laughter, Love, and Lessons Learned
When it comes to accurate historical detail and convincing depiction of ancient Roman society, author Caroline Lawrence knows whereof she writes. Before becoming a children's book author, Caroline Lawrence was a student of Classics at Berkeley and later at Cambridge, as well as a teacher of Latin at a small London primary school.

I am a librarian by profession and have read all of the books in Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series. The Sirens of Surrentum is one of her best. The protagonist of the story, Flavia Gemina, is about to celebrate her 11th birthday and is just one year away from being of marriageable age (!) by ancient Roman custom. Readers around the same age as Flavia (perhaps age 10 and older being the best age level for the younger readers of this book) will laugh at the foolishness of boys, as well as learn the valuable life-lesson that one can be too young for love.

There is delicious danger in the story, as we follow the young adventurers to the villa of a famous poisoner in their quest to solve the mystery. And, as with all of Caroline Lawrence's books, we learn a few fascinating facts of Roman history and culture along the way, such as the story related by the Roman philosopher Seneca about the German barbarian who killed himself with a sponge-stick (an object customarily employed for more mundane purposes).

Wittily written, NEVER condescending to young readers, and an absolute delight even for adult enthusiasts of stories set in ancient Rome and its environs, The Sirens of Surrentum is a gem from start to finish!

A very interesting book...........
When I read the first line of this book, my first impression was that it is about **** (which was right)...... When Flavia, Nubia, Jonathan and Lupus arrive at the Villa Limona, they meet Floppy *Flaccus* and two other bachelors. There are also three widows:Voluptua, Annia Serena, and Cludia. Voluptua makes a surprise visit with a panther!!! But with the beauties, come a dark side. Polla (Felix' wife) has been poisoned and the four friends are here to solve the mystery. Will Flavia's love for Felix end or will thety start a new relationship? Will the three bachelors fall in love with the three widows? And what haqppens when Flavia's bethrothed shows up? Who will fall in love with who and who is trying to poison Polla? Read the book and Find out! I really enjoyed reading this book.