Iain Pears writes Literature. The capital 'L' is pronounced properly by uttering the entire phrase through the nose. Imagine Major Charles Emerson Winchester III from M*A*S*H mocking Hawkeye's choice of a Robert Ludlum thriller and holding up an Iain Pears novel as an example of what he should have picked instead, and you've got the right idea for the kind of book Iain Pears writes. However, unlike certain other novels written by Nobel Laureates that try just a little too hard, The Dream Of Scipio is very readable, and may even be better than the author's previous best-known book, An Instance Of The Fingerpost.

In Dream, the author plots out the lives of three major protagonists, whose lives intertwine even though they are separated by hundreds of years. Julien Barneuve is a scholar during the late 1920s through the 1940s, studying the writings of a little-known 14th-century poet named Olivier de Noyen, who in turn was inspired by the philosophical musings of Manlius Hippomanes (422-486), collected and written under the borrowed title The Dream Of Scipio. If this sounds a little complicated, I should warn you that I had trouble setting myself straight for the first twenty or so pages. So many names are sprung on the reader so quickly, with the barest of references to the time period, that one might be forgiven for starting over again after reaching page 43, as I did. Realizing the scope of the novel, I was better able to settle things in my mind as I carefully cataloged each character into the appropriate period. This sounds far more laborious than it actually was. Let's just say that I started again reading this novel with the care I normally associate with non-fiction book, and quickly found myself enjoying the book without realizing I was still tracking anything.

Each character faces calamity and lives in a time of upheaval, and each is influenced by those events. Manlius serves the Roman Empire in a time when the Roman Empire is essentially fallen. While he dies of natural causes, he could have as easily fallen to barbarian hordes many times. Olivier serves within the treacherous political environment of the Roman Catholic church during a time when the plague is devastating Europe. Julien lives during World War II, serving the government of occupied France.

Each character is devoted in his own way to a woman. Manlius is under the influence of a passionate but aloof philosopher, Sophia. Olivier is smitten by a strange woman he sees one day kneeling in a chapel. Julien is in love with a Jewess.