Last Girls of Pompeii

In Pompeii, in the summer of A.D. 79, Julia and Sura appear to lead opposite lives. Julia is the daughter of a wealthy ship-builder; Sura is an orphan. Julia bears the Curse of Venus—a withered arm; Sura’s beauty turns heads. Julia is free; Sura is her slave.

Then Julia learns that her parents are planning to put her in the service of the Temple of Damia, the center of a cultish new religion, and ...