Robert Graves’ great Roman court novel, told through the apparently weak, stammering, overlooked figure of Claudius.

The sequel to I, Claudius, following Claudius after the joke of survival becomes the nightmare of rule. Having outlived the dynastic carnage of the Julio-Claudian court, Claudius is now emperor: scholar turned administrator, reluctant sovereign, reformer, husband, dupe, and political animal trying to govern a machine designed to eat everyone inside it.

Graves makes imperial Rome feel intimate, bureaucratic and obscene: public works, conquest, lawsuits, marriages, poisonings, religious theatre, military ambition, domestic betrayal. Where I, Claudius is about survival from the margins, Claudius the God is about what happens when the underestimated observer is forced into power himself. For readers of Hilary Mantel, Mary Renault, Marguerite Yourcenar, Gore Vidal, or anyone who wants historical fiction with real political bite rather than costume-drama wallpaper.

Penguin paperback edition. Good second-hand condition, with visible cover rubbing, edgewear, corner wear and general age/handling. Cover has that nice older Penguin mosaic design.