The Vesuvian Mistress

George W. J. Laidlaw
Zumaya Publications (2006)
ISBN 1894869656
Reviewed by AJ Cooper for Reader Views (4/07)

“The Vesuvian Mistress” travels through time depicting lives that are all connected to an archeological dig site in Naples, Italy. The time periods mentioned, 79 AD, 1840s, 1940s and 1980s. 79 AD follows a wealthy merchant and his mistress. 1840s follows a dreaded trip to the North Pole that ended in everyone dead. 1940s follows a Nazi and an Italian and the priceless artifacts the Italian collects to save the life of his family. 1980s follows an archeologist at a dig site

Lienna West, the archeologist, solicits the help of Blair Crowley to use specialized equipment to search for artifacts under water. While they are working together, they are both attracted to each other and eventually fall in love. Meanwhile in Africa, Tanya the shunned lover and business woman works on a strategy to get Blair to marry her to strengthen her family fortune. Blair had been in the North Pole trying to find the ships that had been lost from an expedition in the 1840s.

Marco is Lienna’s grandfather, who was always thought of as a traitor because he gave artifacts to the Nazis to save his family. Helmut the Nazi is defeated and spends years in prison but vows revenge and retrieval of his fortune when he is free. Marco is never to be heard from again after he is detained by the Nazis. Marco’s name is cleared at the end.

Helmut is defeated at the end. Scuilius is the wealthy merchant from 79 AD who divorces his wife for his slave girl Claudia. Their lives come to end when the volcano Vesuvius erupts

I was interested in the occupation of Italy by the Nazis and the depiction of what people may have had to do to survive. “The Vesuvian Mistress” jumped around a little too much to keep my interest for long periods of time. I found most of the characters depicted interesting yet a little too flamboyant for my reading tastes. The love stories did not peak my interest and the shunned fiancé was not that believable. Landscapes in the book were described in great detail and I could picture the scenes.

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