Secrets of the Scrolls

Some secrets are written in ash. Others in silence.

When forensic archaeologist Dr Jeannie MacLean joins a prestigious excavation near Herculaneum, she expects quiet discovery, not danger. Hidden beneath volcanic ash lie scrolls that will upend history-and her own life.

The writings belong not to philosophers but to a slave-scribe, a man deliberately erased from record. As Jeannie fights to protect his testimony, she collides with ambition, coercion, and the toxic hierarchies of academia. When a senior researcher demands sexual favours for access to the technology decoding the scrolls, she must decide what integrity-and survival-really mean.

From the ruins of Vesuvius to the sterile glow of modern labs, Secrets of the Scrolls entwines ancient injustice with contemporary reckoning. Told with forensic precision and emotional intelligence, it asks how far we will go to give voice to those the world tried to silence.

A haunting novel of identity, power, and the cost of truth-perfect for readers of Maggie O'Farrell, Kate Mosse, and A. S. Byatt.