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The Rope and Other Plays
The Rope and Other Plays
Nov 15, 2025 10:48 PM

Author:Plautus

The Rope and Other Plays

Brilliantly adapting Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences, the sublime comedies of Plautus (c. 254 -184 bc ) are the earliest surviving complete works of Latin literature. The four plays collected here reveal a playwright in his prime, exploring classic themes and developing standard characters that were to influence the comedies of Shakespeare, Molière and many others. In The Ghost, a dissolute son who has squandered his father's money is thrown into disarray when he returns from abroad, a theme that is explored further in the comedy of errors A Three-Dollar Day. In The Rope - regarded by many as the best of Plautus' plays - the shipwreck of a pimp and his slaves leads to the touching reunion of a father and his daughter, while Amphitryo, Plautus's only excursion into divine mythology, offers a cheerful account of how Jupiter became father to Hercules.

Reviews

Leaves a lovely, subtle legacy

—— The Times

These stories are beautiful and honest

—— Lucy Daniel , Daily Telegraph

Jones has attempted and succeeded in writing a work that is both determinedly cerebral and emotionally alive

—— Irish Times

Shards of poetry stud Jones' writing like diamonds as she switches masterfully between a lyrical and academic register

—— Alev Adil , Independent

Startling images in spare prose

—— Guardian

A uniquely talented writer

—— Independent on Sunday

A nostalgic, compelling adventure laced with black humour

—— Time Out

A compulsively readable novel about the seductiveness of storytelling... Both his characters and the electrifying manner in which Scudamore writes about Ecuador demonstrate the appeal as well as the danger of any fabulist's capacity for wonder

—— Literary Review

Brilliant ... In a hilarious portrayal of the ups and downs of being wife No.2, The Second Wives Club puts paid to the stereotype of the wicked stepmother once and for all

—— Sun

This is the perfect holiday read but would be just as entertainiing on the commute to work as accompanying you pool side

—— handbag.com

Second wives form a club to bitch about their husbands and in-laws in this compelling read

—— heat

Goodwin does an excellent job...a bleak, clever, complex and utterly compelling thriller with the grip of a pitbull.

—— YORKSHIRE POST

Beautifully written...Idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable

—— GOOD BOOK GUIDE

North London gangland life and a very nasty murder mystery, but this highly compulsive, unputdownable novel is so much more...The events are extraordinary and the finale very disturbing and the reading experience is one of best I've had for a long time.

—— SARAH BROADHURST , THE BOOKSELLER

Intense and deeply disturbing, Sweet Gum is the kind of story you can't help wishing...was strictly confined to the pages of a book. But it's not - this is real life in a modern world: a seedily contemporary world of criminals, lap-dancing, drugs, perversion, prostitution and betrayal. Written by a journalist known for her investigations into the crime underworld, Sweet Gum brilliantly captures the sense of the London streets with a scintillating nastiness that's totally addictive. Unputdownable

—— IRISH EXAMINER

Deliciously bittersweet...vividly evoked...an assured, ambitious and inventive work

—— MSLEXIA

Brisk and wry intelligence...there is a constant wit and genuine sparkle of language at work here

—— SUNDAY TRIBUNE

Her reputation as a gifted novelist will be assured...Sweet Gum balances a visceral portrait of modern evil with an ambitious work on the themes of redemption, love and justice which is both refreshing and strangely nostalgic.

—— THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
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