The Wolf Den

“May men fall to me as this offering falls to you, Greatest Aphrodite. May I know love’s power, if never its sweetness.” Amara drops her mangled garland on the ever-growing pile of heaped offerings from the desperate whores of Pompeii”
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Every so often you read a book that just makes you want to wiggle your toes with pleasure because it’s just so good. The Wolf Den is the perfect combination of meticulous research and a flair for storytelling that transported me straight to Pompeii in AD74

Set in the Lupanar of Pompeii, the town brothel known as The Wolf Den, this is the story of a group of women sold into slavery from across the Roman Empire. Amara is Greek by birth and the daughter of a doctor. She was sold first into domestic servitude and then into prostitution. Dido is from Carthage, Beronice is from Egypt and Victoria was rescued from the town dump as a baby and has known no other life. Stripped of everything, including their real names, the women all long for a way out of The Wolf Den whether through love, death or a series of calculated gambles


Each chapter starts with a contemporary quote or piece of graffiti from the walls of Pompeii, a device that sets the scene beautifully as you walk the streets with the girls as they go “fishing,” calling into The Sparrow for hot wine or parading through the painted colonnades in the forum. Although the scenes of female friendship lend some levity, fear, sweat, dirt, desperation and powerlessness pervade the story


A beautifully penned story, set in the Ancient world, from a female perspective in a place that has always fascinated me, I absolutely loved it.
Thank you to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for my ARC. The Wolf Den is out in May 2021 and watch out because I’ll be reminding you of it nearer the time!!

I absolutely adored this gripping, atmospheric romp through the drinking dens, villas and the brothel of ancient Pompeii. Harper is a deeply talented writer drawing you immediately into the sights and smells of ancient times.

With little autonomy, women in the ancient world struggled to have any kind of life outside of drudgery and the repetition of child bearing - or worse. When Amara, an educated greek woman, is sold into slavery and then into whoredom, she is determined to secure her freedom - but at what cost.

Introducing us to a fabulous cast of characters from her fellow whores - Victoria, Cressa, Berenice and Britainnica, to love interests and legendary historical figures, this well-researched novel had me rooting for all the women to the end of the book.

I can't wait for book 2!

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper is an excellent historical fiction that takes place in the ancient location of the infamous Pompeii. This is a haunting and complex story of survival, finding one's inner strength, society at its best, and its worst, and a glimpse into the lives of women on the fringe of society, most through no fault of their own.

Amara is a fascinating and complex character. We see her change and, actually blossom in some degrees, with her abrupt change in circumstances. We get to take a glimpse inside the fringe of society, the brothel. The author places faces to these historic figures. Names to these nameless women. To follow along as we see her transition, the obstacles she experiences, and the rays of light that are shown upon her despite where is now is, was brilliant. She easily placed me into her corner from the very beginning.

The author creates a narrative and a window into this life. She is impressive balancing upon the line of showing the reader the hardness, the difficulties, the hurt, loss, pain, and humiliation that some feel and experience, all the while showing us the relationships and bonds formed amongst the women, the strength, the resilience, the fight present within these women's souls.

The author also clearly did her research in laying out a picture of what society was like figuratively and landscape-wise. She places us literally within the streets of town, and at times it feels as if I have actually gone back in time myself.

This novel is so unique and beyond excellent. I have to admit, this can sometimes but hard and difficult material to read, however it is displayed tastefully and balanced appropriately, and is so worth the read.

For anyone that loves historical fiction, ancient settings, and strong female characters.

5/5 stars

Thank you to NG and Head of Zeus for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately (as of 2/12/21 no BB listing has been created) and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

Let me start by saying that The Wolf Den is pretty far outside my normal genre; any historical fiction that I pick up is usually focused on a sweeping love story, and the furthest I’ll go back is 19th century. I would, however, defy most people to not be lured in by that stunning orange cover and the promise of an immersive, female-focused story set in Ancient Pompeii!

The Wolf Den drew me in completely from the first page. This is a story of a small community of women, and seeing it through Amara’s eyes was pretty mesmerising. Pompeii is almost palpable, and even after several weeks after reading it, I can still hear the bustling markets and the dock where the women go to seek out new customers. Despite being set thousands of years ago, this novel was so relatable. There’s a particular moment where Amara has to carve a message on a wall to a potential love interest, and she’s considering how long to wait before answering. If you don’t relate to those painful early stages of dating, you’re much cooler than me.

There are romantic entanglements in this novel, although romantic feels very much like the wrong word; they are instead about power. If Amara can just find a man with enough power to pay for her freedom, she can escape her existence and start a new life as a courtesan. Instead, I found absolute joy in the relationships between the five women in the brothel: Amara, Victoria, Dido, Cressa and Beronice. Their situations have shoved them together in a way that moves straight past friendships to sisterhood, and I loved hearing about their different backstories. I wasn’t sure how much I liked each character, except for Dido, despite admiring their strength and resilience, but ultimately the lack of anaesthetising was quite refreshing. Women are so often criticised for not doing something with enough niceties or grace, but at the very bottom of an unforgivingly patriarchal society, the only way up for the She-Wolves is for them to get their claws out.

There is a real sense of simultaneous hope and hopelessness to this novel. Amara doesn’t start her life in the brothel and is constantly fighting to gain some favour with Felix, the brothel owner, that might be any kind step towards freedom. Yet the story is peppered with moments of hopelessness, where she knows that submission is the easiest way forward for that one night. The most touching parts for me were the other women recognising utter defeat in one of them and leading the customers to their cells for the night; they literally sub in their own bodies to save their friends from further pain.

The amount of historical content added into this novel was absolutely spot-on for me. From the details in the brothel, to the graffiti, to the festivals they attended. It provided a fantastically-researched backdrop for the plots and people that are centered on universal experiences: the search for love and freedom, as well as achieving a class status that will alleviate the brutal existence of their current reality.

This was a brilliant and extremely entertaining debut, and I was thrilled to learn it is the first in a trilogy. I can’t wait to read more of Amara’s story!

Firstly, a huge thank you to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

CW: slavery, suicide, domestic violence, rape, murder, sex trafficking

I have been dying to read this novel since I heard about it last year. Pompeii is somewhere that I have always been fascinated by, so I was thrilled to see that Harper has brought so many frogmen women to life, all based on graffiti at the Lupanar.

All of the women in the novel were brilliantly crafted, each one had a unique story and personality that truly brought the novel to life. It's so impressive how Harper portrays these women as normal friends, even though the situations that have led them all to meet and work together are far from normal. Although the subject matter of the novel is heavy to say the least, the women’s interactions with each other were still lovely to read. To picture them laughing and joking together to get them through the days and nights was lovely. It also made these scenes even more bittersweet and powerful when you are reminded of the situation that they're in.

Amara was such a perfect protagonist for this novel, even if, as a character, she was imperfect and had flaws. I loved and admired her loyalty to her friends as well as her determination to be free - even if some of the means she went to were very troublesome. I also loved Dido and seeing her grow over the course of the novel. Victoria, on the other hand, was not shy at all and truly knew how to play the game and yet, there were moments where Harper showed us the scared and vulnerable side to her.

What surprised me the most about the novel was the fact I found it very difficult to hate Felix, the owner of the brothel. Yes he's abhorrent who does, and says, terrible things and yet he is so complex and you occasionally get glimpses into different sides of him. They are never enough to make him as likeable as the women but enough that you wonder how he became the way he did. In fact a lot of the recurring male characters were rarely portrayed as the villains which was such an interesting choice, but one that made you take a deeper look into the society as a whole and that not everyone or every action could easily be categorised as good or evil.

The pacing of this novel was brilliant, going from settling the reader into the day to day lies of these women to something more plot driven. I could have easily read another 400 pages of their lives and not be bored. There are some heavy and heartbreaking scenes but everything has been done with a purpose. Whilst this novel does focus on slaves in a brothel, Harper has carefully considered each scene and only gives sex the briefest of torches when truly allows you to focus on the character.

Overall, this is a fantastic and powerful novel in many ways. All the women have easily worked their way into my heart and I'm so grateful to Harper for introducing the world to the possible women at the Lupanar.