Have you ever found yourself irritated when a sine qua non or a mea culpa is thrown into the conversation by a par ticularly annoying person? Or do distant memories of afternoons spent struggling to learn obscure verbs fill you with dread?

Never fear! (or as a Latin show-off might say, Nil Desperandum!)

In this delightful guided tour of Latin – featuring everything from a Monty Python grammar lesson to David Beckham’s tattoos and all the best snippets of prose and poetry from 2000 years of literary history – Harry Mount wipes the dust off those boring primers and breathes life back into the greatest language of them all.

‘Amo, Amas, Amat is a diverting meander and Mount’s love of Latin shines out on every page.’
The Spectator

‘If you studied Latin at school this will bring back fond memories, but even newcomers will be captivated by this witty and entertaining book…‘
Yorkshire Evening Post

'Latin without the pain.'
The Guardian

'The latest challenge to the crown claimed by Eats, Shoots & Leaves.'
The Times

About the author

Harry Mount read Classics at Oxford and was a Latin tutor before becoming a journalist. He has been a leader- writer and New York correspondent at the

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