About this audiobook
Gustave Flaubert's historical novel takes the reader to ancient Carthage during the revolt of its mercenary soldiers after the First Punic War. Amid political conflict and military violence, the rebel leader Matho becomes fascinated by Salammbô, daughter of Hamilcar and a devotee of the goddess Tanit. His desire draws private feeling into a struggle that already threatens an entire city.
The theft of a sacred veil brings religious belief, ambition and passion into an increasingly dangerous relationship. Flaubert builds a world of ceremonies, armies and opposing loyalties through rich visual detail. This is an imaginative historical novel whose ancient setting gives its characters' desires and fears a distinctive intensity.
It will appeal to readers who enjoy large-scale historical fiction, charged encounters between rival forces and stories about the ways personal obsession becomes entangled with war, power and the demands of collective belief.
