The Buried City: The Revelatory New History from the Director of Pompeii

Pompeii is a world frozen in time. There are unmade beds, dishes left drying, tools abandoned by workmen, bodies embracing with love and fear. And alongside the remnants of everyday life, there are captivating works of art: lifelike portraits, exquisite frescos and mosaics, and the extraordinary sculpture of a sleeping boy, curled up under a blanket that's too small.

The Buried City reconstructs the catastrophe that destroyed Pompeii on 24 August 79 CE, but it also offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the city as it was before: who lived here, what mattered to them, and what happened in their final hours. It offers us a vivid sense of Pompeii's continuing relevance, and proves that ancient history is much closer to us than we think.

Book details

• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 256 pages, 2 x colour plate sections
• Publisher: Hodder Press
• Published: 21 May 2026
• Dimensions: 196 x 129 x 21 mm
• ISBN: 9781399731195