Quo Vadis - (Dover Literature: Historical Fiction) by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Paperback)

About the Book

This historical novel contrasts the decadence of ancient Rome with the powerful simplicity of the earliest Christians. Its epic tale recounts the romance between a young Christian convert and a Roman soldier.

Book Synopsis

A young Roman soldier falls in love only to discover that his sweetheart belongs to a strange new cult--a group that meets in secret to worship their one and only god. The romance of Marcus Vinicius and Lygia unfolds amid the decadence of ancient Rome, where bloodthirsty crowds flock to gladiatorial contests and a mad emperor sets fire to his own city. With its captivating blend of fictional and real characters, this historical novel contrasts the worldly opulence of the Roman aristocracy with the poverty, simplicity, and spiritual power of the early Christians.
Quo Vadis ("Where are you going?") was one of the world's first bestsellers and contributed toward the author's 1905 receipt of the Nobel Prize in literature. Originally written in Polish, its tale of the Roman suppression of Christianity echoes the Russian domination of Poland. This edition features Jeremiah Curtin's English translation of Henryk Sienkiewicz's enduring epic.

About the Author

Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) glorified his country's struggles in a popular trilogy of books. His best-known work, Quo Vadis?, can be interpreted as an allegory of the persecution and political subjugation of Poland by Russia.