Larry Hostetler

Larry Hostetler asked Robert Harris:

Dictator seems to be to be historically accurate yet reads well, a testimony to your writing skills. Do you find yourself having to make choices between what you understand from your research and what makes the story work?

Robert Harris Part of the pleasure of these novels for me is trying to figure out what it must have been like at the time. It’s like uncovering some ancient mosaic floor, and having to fill in the places where the tiles are missing. The sense of reality therefore is inseparable from the success of the novel. But of course it is a novel, I am inventing, and what I seek to do – to be pretentious about it -- is to transform facts via the imagination into art.

More Answered Questions

Joseph Hargreaves

Joseph Hargreaves asked Robert Harris:

Mr. Harris Firstly, thank you for the hours of enjoyment I got from reading Lustrum. I'm working through the other two as we speak. I have a couple of questions: 1) Why Cicero? Of all the men and women of Rome what was it that attracted you to his story rather than others? 2) As someone who is recently getting into Roman history, what fact/fiction would you recommend as a springboard for deeper exploration?

Malia

Malia asked Robert Harris:

I'm a huge fan of your historical fiction - the Cicero series and An Officer and a Spy in particular - (and have converted both my parents as well;-) I'm wondering, how you decide on the subjects and historical focus of your novels? Do your decisions stem from a prior fascination with a figure or are they the development of a historical tidbit you heard of and wanted to explore further?

Andrew Cooper

Andrew Cooper asked Robert Harris:

I enjoyed Dictator hugely, as I did the rest of the trilogy, and thought I would miss Cicero very much after I turned the last page. But your writing has prompted me to start reading some of his letters and other writing. I have found them fascinating and full of the life force of this remarkable man. If you had to pick just one of his works to recommend to readers, what would it be?

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