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My word, what a book! I began 2020 by saying that this was one book from my library I wanted to read, and I am so glad I started the year with it. Being Italian, loving History and having visited Rome many times helped me enjoy this book. Is allegedly an autobiography of Claudius, but is really a historical fiction book which does a super job of seeing Rome and the empire through the eyes of the physically challenged Claudius, a relative of Augustus Caesar who is so non-threatening that nobody tries to kill him and who will eventually rise to become Emperor of Rome. Great historical details taken from works of Suetonius and Tacitus and, again, is supposed to be Claudius writing his and his families history. Shows how his grandmother, Livia, is the power behind the crown, and does not really write highly about Augustus and especially Tiberius. Caligula gets the last 70 pages of the book and we easily see why he was assassinated! It is not the fastest book to read, partly due to very small font size, but I found the last 250 pages flew by. A great read, and now I must make the effort to read the 2nd book of the series, Claudius the God. Very happy I made this my reading priority for 2020!