Set 2,000 years in the future, Peter Ackroyd's imaginative new novel is by turns lively, inventive and surprising.
Plato, the orator, summons the citizens of London on ritual occasions to impart the ancient history of the city. He lectures upon the 'Origin of the Species', and even provides a glossary of twentieth-century terms. But then something happens. He has a dream, or a vision, or he goes on a real journey - opinions are divided - and enters a vast underground cavern where citizens of Mouldwarp London (AD 1500 - 2300) still live.
When Plato returns with stories of this lost world he is put on trial for corrupting the youth by means of lies and fables, since his words have spread consternation among them. Are their lives part of some greater reality? And if they learn to doubt, perhaps they will be able to recognise a truth beyond that of their own world. All will depend upon the judgement of Plato by his fellow citizens.
