The Cleansing: A Novel of Ancient Rome
by Victoria Alvear
Rating: *****
As one of Rome’s six Vestal Virgins serving Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, Opimia “Mia” has always been the most spirited, though years of training have tempered her rebellion. Yet, resentment still flickers at being chosen and torn from her idyllic childhood with best friend Attius, along with disquieting doubts about the true nature of her role.
When Hannibal slaughters 50,000 Romans at the Battle of Cannae, sacrifices are needed to appease the gods and keep the people of Rome from mass panicking, and it has been decided that one of those sacrifices will be Mia…
Alvear’s powerfully compelling novel inspired by actual events opens in 216 BCE, plunging readers into the carnage of the Battle of Cannae, where Mia’s soulmate, Attius, fights before succumbing to a shield smash to the head and sinking beneath a pile of corpses.
It’s a brutal, immersive beginning, but Attius comes across as a man of quiet integrity even in this brief appearance. Despite the surrounding slaughter and his imminent demise, Attius's thoughts turn to his friend and fellow legionnaire Marcus, somewhere amid the battlefield butchery, and to Mia.
The narrative proper begins six weeks later, on the Ides of October, and unfolds from Mia’s first-person perspective. Her voice is immediately encompassing and emotionally rich, though she has not yet fully awakened to its depth, with occasional glimpses of playfulness.
She draws the reader in with her sharp social intelligence and keen awareness, which she keeps subdued beneath the mantle of a Vestal, together with the hints of an underlying maverick personality that subtly colors her observations and behavior.
It is not only Mia who is unconventional, Alvear’s Ancient Rome is not the usual depiction of togas and sandals but a seething cauldron of depravity, fearfulness, and performative religious theatre. The place is morally hollow, shaped by the patriarchy and steeped in sexual currency and charged with deceit. It’s an authentic, unfiltered, and meticulously detailed rendering. Indeed, Alvear’s historical precision, especially in relation to the rituals and rites, is fascinating and seamlessly woven into Mia’s narrative.
Notwithstanding the finely wrought classical texture, Alvear has a storyteller’s instinct. She has produced a captivating, thought-provoking tale that also feels fresh, echoing contemporary relevance in several respects, told through measured, sophisticated prose that is vividly absorbing to read.
Mia is accused of impropriety fairly early on, and most of the novel follows her trial, whose proceedings shift and twist dramatically, spiraling through gripping betrayals, reversals, and revelations.
Interleaved with the courtroom clamor and baying mobs are Mia’s reminiscences spanning her childhood, Attius, and life as a Vestal. It’s skilfully worked, not only building a beautifully layered picture of the main protagonist, her life, and desires, but also providing pause and contrast to the hostile tumult she faces in court, which makes for intense reading.
Her esoteric encounter with the Sibyl at Cumae is spine-tinglingly recounted, the old woman’s straightforward intuition both ironic and softly amusing, and Mia’s experiences with her friend Prisca are unexpectedly enlightening and add a dash of spice.
The majority of characters surrounding Mia are utterly duplicitous, if not outright malignant degenerates. The Virgo Maxima, the Pontiff, and the Pontiff’s nephew, Lucius Cantilius, are especially loathsome and nastily convincing. Her manumitted handmaiden, Ketet, one of the few trustworthy, is a complex, intriguing individual and a strong addition to the story.
The ending is warmly satisfying, the seeds of which have been faintly scattered throughout the narrative. It could be leveled as a touch convenient, but Alvear’s delicate conviction makes it beautifully moving and, personally, the absolutely right conclusion.
There are a few areas of repetition. Occasionally, the trial scenes are ever-so-slightly over-engineered, but overall, The Cleansing is an uncommonly good, spellbinding triumph of a novel, wonderfully enhanced by Alvear’s excellent Historical Notes. Highly recommended.
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