This unique "back-in-time" novel is written by an expert in Roman archaeology and an accomplished story teller as well. Under the pen name of Rebecca East, the author tells a fascinating story that will keep you in suspense wondering what comes next. The heroine, Miranda, hears that a group of researchers have invented a procedure that can transport someone back in time. Miranda is an archaeologist specializing in ancient Rome and the ruins of Pompeii. She speaks Latin fluently and believes her knowledge of Classical Rome, especially Pompeii, would make her the ideal candidate. She volunteers. The researchers agree and decide to send her back to A.D. 62 to explore Pompeii. In case she has second thoughts, they implanted a device under her skin. She can press it any time, and the researchers will bring her back home.

Miranda drops into the Mediterranean Sea out of nowhere and gets tangled in a fish net. Hauled aboard by the startled fishermen, she surprises them with her unusual Latin accent, but she can converse with them. In a culture filled with slaves, and not knowing what else to do, the fishermen decide to sell her to a slave dealer. In the slave market, she makes friends with a Greek slave, Demetrius, who advises her to look unattractive to buyers she doesn't like and attractive to those she thinks she might like. Miranda and Demetrius both wind up purchased into the household of Marcus Tullius, a rich resident of a small village just outside of Pompeii.

Rebecca East adroitly develops the main characters, Miranda, Demetrius, their master Marcus Tullius, his wife Holoconia, and their two children fourteen-year-old Marcus and thirteen-year-old Tullia. Three other slaves play significant roles in the novel: Alexander, the household steward, Iris, a beautiful twenty-seven year old that Holoconia sent to her husband after Tullia was born and Holoconia wanted no more children, and Cnaeus, the cook. Julia Felix plays a major role late in the novel. East creates a tender interaction of Miranda and the other characters and brings in scenes of courage, love, loyalty, selflessness and selfishness, bravery and heroism. East's story would be interesting in any time period, but East's placing the story in first-century Italy (with her knowledge of Roman history and archaeology) adds a charm that fascinates and educates. Miranda is free to go home any time. At times, she thinks she should, but her eagerness to see more of the real Pompeii continually makes her postpone her return. Gradually, as she gets to know and love the people, especially Marcus Tullius, she gets more and more reluctant to return.

Rebecca East is the pen name of an established professor and archaeologist who is conversant with the excavations at Pompeii and has worked on a "dig." East has a website www.rebecca-east.com where the reader can see some of the ancient art that formed a background for the novel. Many names of the fictional characters were borrowed from real names of people and families that really lived in Pompeii.