Finally, I want to thank Mario Grimaldi, archaeologist and professor at the University of Naples, Suor Orsola Benincasa. He was kind enough to devote almost an entire day to my questions during a personal tour of Pompeii and his excavations. It made my first trip to Italy even more wonderful than I’d thought possible.
Vicky Alvear Shecter loves doing historical research almost as much as she loves losing herself in stories of the ancient world. Vicky is the author of three nonfiction books for young readers, most recently Anubis Speaks! A Guide to the Afterlife by the Egyptian God of the Dead, and a young-adult novel, Cleopatra’s Moon. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia. Please visit her website at www.vickyalvearshecter.com or follow her on Twitter at @valvearshecter.
Text copyright © 2014 by Vicky Alvear Shecter
All rights reserved. Published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and the LANTERN LOGO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shecter, Vicky, author.
Curses and smoke : a novel of Pompeii / by Vicky Alvear Shecter. — First edition.
pages cm
Summary: Tagus is a medical slave who wants be a gladiator, Lucia is the daughter of Tag’s owner and betrothed to an older man, and the two teenagers are in love with each other — but it is the year 79 and soon Vesuvius will alter their lives forever.
ISBN 978-0-545-50993-0 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-545-50994-7 (ebook) — 1. Gladiators — Juvenile fiction. 2. Slaves — Italy — Pompeii (Extinct city) — Juvenile fiction. 3. Volcanoes — Juvenile fiction. 4. Vesuvius (Italy) — Eruption, 79 — Juvenile fiction. 5. Pompeii (Extinct city) — Juvenile fiction. [1. Gladiators — Fiction. 2. Slavery — Fiction. 3. Love — Fiction. 4. Vesuvius (Italy) — Eruption, 79 — Fiction. 5. Pompeii (Extinct city) — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S53822Cu 2014
813.6 — dc23
2013029143
First edition, June 2014
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
Cover image © 2014 by Trevillion and Getty Images
e-ISBN 978-0-545-50994-7
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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