The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears

I don't remember which I read first, the Art History Mystery series by Iain Pears or his novel An Instance of the Fingerpost. I just know that I thoroughly enjoyed both. Based on that, I purchased his next novel, The Dream of Scipio, which has subsequently been sitting in my TBR pile for almost eight years! Since it met the requirements for the Typically British Reading Challenge I decided it would be a good time to pull it off the shelf.

The Dream of Scipio is nothing like the other books I've read by Iain Pears. It's more of a "thinking man's" novel and definitely not light reading. I made the mistake of checking out the reviews of it at Amazon before starting it and began to wonder if it might be too philosophical for me. I knew it had ties to Cicero's work by the same name, so I found a translation of that to skim with the hope it would enhance the novel for me. (not that it did particularly)

The story is set in Provence, France and revolves around three men during three separate periods in history: the fourth century, the fourteenth century, and the second world war. Each man is in an ill-fated relationship with a woman and each man faces a major dilemma pertinent to that period in history. Some of the philosophical questions addressed are "what is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege?", "what is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature?", and "does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality?".

The book is very well written as are all of Pears' books. However, it went very slowly for me and I had to push myself to keep on. I can honestly say, though, when I reached the end I was satisfied and glad that I'd persevered, not only for the resolution of the storylines, but for the critical thinking it provoked.