Sparrow (2023) by James Hynes

 Book Review

Sparrow (2023)

by James Hynes

 I practically spit out my coffee when I read the write-up of Sparrow by James Hynes in the Sunday New York Times Book Review last month:  A novel set in post-Christian Rome written from the POV of a slave in a whore-house?  Sign me up!  Serious works of fiction set in this period are few and far between, so kudos to Hynes who includes an afterword showing he was up to date on the scholarship surrounding the delicate issues of sexuality in Rome, a slave-holding society.  Those interested in this place and time will find much to like in Sparrow- though the sexual content is at times cringe inducing- just like- horrible stuff about the experiences of sex workers in the Roman Empire, but Hynes doesn't sensationalize the abuse and I enjoyed the rest of the book.