Nicholas Hayes

Crossing the River of Forgetfulness Nicholas Hayes

Crossing the River of Forgetfulness is a novel about the heartbreak of Esseligo, a freed slave, set against the everyday life of ancient Rome, around 150 AD. His obsessive struggle to seek and please the love of his life, the beautiful, intelligent, but cruel Flaminia, makes a fascinating read. It is not a story of emperors and well-known names in Roman history, nor of legions and famous battles, but of two ordinary Roman people, who live within calling distance of the slums of the Subura. They carry on a love affair, at times despairing, at times easy and happy, which wraps in and out of both, in a way which has not changed over the centuries. Amongst other scenes in the book, which draw the reader in as if they are there, are a sea journey on a luxurious villa ship and the hypnotic atmosphere of a religious festival, where they drink 'kykeon', an ancient psychotropic drug, and dance with rhythmic abandon, as if at a contemporary Saturday night acid house rave. The difference however is, that to those ancient Romans their beliefs in the pagan gods and household spirits, saturated their everyday existence. Such extraordinary scenes lead the reader to want to know more about how it was to live and feel in those ancient times, and want to follow, for a brief time, the life of this desperate man and his all-consuming love. His fatal attraction to Flaminia is as universal today as it ever was, when hoping for the deepest love we crave. These hopes lie on the surface still permeating our own life stories, while the ruins of their ancient life lie in forgotten stone, beneath the streets of Rome, buried 5 metres underground. In the end, Esseligo, in his desperation, finds support only from his own slaves. His lonely endeavours to win Flaminia's heart, which are so recognisable and in fact timeless, seem hopeless and utterly humiliating at times, until at last destiny changes everything...