pliny's warning

Pliny's Warning

Amid growing concern about a super eruption of the world’s most dangerous volcano, Mt Vesuvius, international vulcanologist Frances Nelson travels to Italy to join “Progetta Vulcano”, the team installing early warning systems to save millions of people from catastrophe.

Frances joins Italo-Australian vulcanologist Riccardo Coccia and archaeologist Marcello Vattani in their quest to prevent a repeat of the devastating consequences of the Vesuvius eruption, which completely obliterated the wealthy Roman town of Pompeii in 79 AD, and the even more lethal Bronze Age eruption, which destroyed the land and all its inhabitants 3,550 years ago.

She retraces the steps of the poet Pliny the Younger, whose graphic eyewitness accounts of the Pompeii eruption earned him the title “the world’s first vulcanologist”. The author has tapped into the latest research including evidence that historians have got the date of Pompeii wrong…..with consequences for all who live in southern Italy today.

Pliny’s Warning is set in the spectacular volcanic landscapes of Italy and New Zealand and the colourful heart of Naples. It brings to life characters embroiled in a deadly contest to protect millions from destruction and adds a romantic twist. Volcanos are not the only threat: the ruthless members of Il Sistema, the local mafia, will stop at nothing to protect their construction businesses and the illegal burying of toxic waste.