|
Showing 1 - 25 of
25 matches in All Departments
'One of the greatest historical novels ever written' SARAH WATERS
'Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and
their readers' HILARY MANTEL In THE PERSIAN BOY, Mary Renault
vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic
leader whose drive and ambition created a legend. The Persian Boy
traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his
lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas is sold as a
courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but finds freedom with
Alexander the Great after the Macedon army conquers his homeland.
Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination
plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes mutinous army,
and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander's mysterious death,
we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great
warrior and his ambitions better than anyone. 'Mary Renault does
not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of
ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness;
discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our
curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and
delights us' HILARY MANTEL 'The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of
the most important works of fiction in the 20th century . . .
Renault's skill is in immersing us in their world, drawing us into
its strangeness, its violence and beauty' ANTONIA SENIOR, THE TIMES
'Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex
and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for
the Classics. Her characters live vividly both in their own time,
and in ours' MADELINE MILLER Mary Renault is a shining light to
both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend
the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece
were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning,
sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she
leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us'
HILARY MANTEL In the story of the great lyric poet Simonides, Mary
Renault brings alive a time in Greece when tyrants kept an unsteady
rule and poetry, music, and royal patronage combined to produce a
flowering of the arts. Born into a stern farming family on the
island of Keos, Simonides escapes his harsh childhood through a
lucky apprenticeship with a renowned Ionian singer. As they travel
through 5th century B.C. Greece, Simonides learns not only how to
play the kithara and compose poetry, but also how to navigate the
shifting alliances surrounding his rich patrons. He is witness to
the Persian invasion of Ionia, to the decadent reign of the Samian
pirate king Polykrates, and to the fall of the Pisistratids in the
Athenian court. Along the way, he encounters artists, statesmen,
athletes, thinkers, and lovers, including the likes of Pythagoras
and Aischylos. Using the singer's unique perspective, Renault
combines her vibrant imagination and her formidable knowledge of
history to establish a sweeping, resilient vision of a golden
century. 'There's much to say about her interweaving of myth and
history and, just as interestingly, there's much to wonder at in
the way she fills in the large dark spaces where we know next to
nothing about the times she describes . . . an important and
wonderful writer . . . she set a course into serious-minded,
psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more
important than ever' - Sam Jordison, Guardian
Theseus is the grandson of the King of Troizen, but his paternity
is shrouded in mystery - can he really be the son of the god
Poseidon? When he discovers his father's sword beneath a rock, his
mother must reveal his true identity: Theseus is the son of Aegeus,
King of Athens, and is his only heir. So begins Theseus's perilous
journey to his father's palace to claim his birth right, escaping
bandits and ritual king sacrifice in Eleusis, to slaying the
Minotaur in Crete. Renault reimagines the Theseus myth, creating an
original, exciting story.
Set in fourth-century B.C. Greece, The Mask of Apollo is narrated
by Nikeratos, a tragic actor who takes with him on all his travels
a gold mask of Apollo, a relic of the theatre's golden age, which
is now past. At first his mascot, the mask gradually becomes his
conscience, and he refers to it his gravest decisions, when he
finds himself at the centre of a political crisis in which the
philosopher Plato is also involved. Much of the action is set in
Syracuse, where Plato's friend Dion is trying to persuade the young
tyrant Dionysios the Younger to accept the rule of law. Through
Nikeratos' eyes, the reader watches as the clash between the two
unleashes all the pent-up violence in the city.
Having freed the city of Athens from the onerous tribute demanded
by the ruler of Knossos - the sacrifice of noble youths and maidens
to the appetite of the Labyrinth's monster - Theseus has returned
home to find his father dead and himself the new king. But his
adventures have only just begun: he still must confront the
Amazons, capture their queen, Hippolyta, and face the tragic
results of Phaedra's jealous rage. Piecing together the fragments
of myth and using her deep understanding of the cultures reflected
in these legends, Mary Renault has constructed an enthralling
narrative of a time when heroes battled monsters and gods strode
the earth.
After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans’ hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance. Then one day, Ralph Lanyon, a mentor from Laurie’s schoolboy days, suddenly reappears in Laurie’s life, and draws him into a tight-knit social circle of world-weary gay men. Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Originally published in the United States in 1959, The Charioteer is a bold, unapologetic portrayal of male homosexuality during World War II that stands with Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar and Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories as a monumental work in gay literature.
The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through
the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas
is sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but finds freedom
with Alexander the Great after the Macedon army conquers his
homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers
assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes
mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander's
mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy
understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.
Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth,
but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His
mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought
each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and
vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion
taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and
Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. Killing his first man in
battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and
commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his
father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his
fiery ambition.
Vivian, a student nurse, chose her profession as a challenge, both
to her spirit and to her permanently exhausted body; Mic immerses
himself in his work at the hospital to ward off the emotional
wounds of an unhappy childhood. Through Jan, Viv's beloved older
brother, they meet, and their friendship turns into a secret
romance. Secret because, if discovered, it would cost them their
jobs. Despite the discipline and rigid hierarchy imposed by the
hospital, their passion takes root, but between them hangs the
tantalising and enigmatic shadow of Jan.
Injured at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell, a young corporal, is recovering
at a rural veterans' hospital. There he meets Andrew, a
conscientious objector serving as an orderly, and the men find
solace in their covert friendship. Then Ralph Lanyon appears, a
mentor from Laurie's schooldays. Through him, Laurie is drawn into
a tight-knit circle of gay men for whom liaisons are fleeting and
he is forced to choose between the ideals of a perfect friendship
and the pleasures of experience. First published in 1953, The
Charioteer is a a tender, intelligent coming-of-age novel and a
bold, unapologetic portrayal of homosexuality that stands with Gore
Vidal's The City and the Pillar and James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room
as a landmark work in gay literature.
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind
an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India. After
Alexander's death in 323 B.C .his only direct heirs were two unborn
sons and a simpleton half-brother. Every long-simmering faction
exploded into the vacuum of power. Wives, distant relatives and
generals all vied for the loyalty of the increasingly undisciplined
Macedonian army. Most failed and were killed in the attempt. For no
one possessed the leadership to keep the great empire from
crumbling. But Alexander's legend endured to spread into worlds he
had seen only in dreams.
In two remarkable historical novels, Mary Renault fashions from the
myth of Theseus a convincingly flawed hero and weaves a thrillingly
plausible account of the Labyrinth and the infamous Minotaur. The
King Must Die follows the young Theseus as he discovers that his
true father is the King of Athens, and volunteers to join the
annual tribute of Athenian girls and youths sacrificed to a
bull-worshipping cult on the island of Crete. Trapped in the
labyrinthine palace of King Minos, Theseus enlists the help of high
priestess Ariadne in a daring plan to free his people. The Bull
From the Sea begins after Theseus's triumphal return to Athens. He
is now king, but his confidence will be shaken by a life-changing
encounter with the queen of the Amazons, the birth of a son who
will insist on choosing his own path, and the tragic results of his
wife's treachery. Renault's deep knowledge of the Greek world, her
sure grasp of psychology and genius for inspired speculation bring
the distant world of the legendary past enthrallingly to life.
Athens and Sparta, the mighty city states of ancient Greece, locked
together in a quarter century of conflict: the Peloponnesian War.
Alexias the Athenian was born, passed through childhood and grew to
manhood in those troubled years, that desperate and dangerous epoch
when the golden age of Pericles was declining into uncertainty and
fear for the future. Of good family, he and his friends are brought
up and educated in the things of the intellect and in athletic and
martial pursuits. They learn to hunt and to love, to wrestle and to
question. And all the time his star of destiny is leading him
towards the moment when he must stand alongside his greatest friend
Lysis in the last great clash of arms between the cities.
Elsie, sheltered and naive, is seventeen and unhappy. Stifled by
life with her bickering parents in a bleak Cornish village, she
falls in love with the first presentable young man she meets -
Peter, an ambitious London doctor. On his advice she runs away from
home and goes to live with her sister Leonora, who escaped eight
years earlier. But there are surprises in store for conventional
Elsie as her sister has a rather bohemian lifestyle: not only does
Leo live in a houseboat on the Thames where she writes Westerns for
a living, she shares her boat - and her bed - with Helen. When
Peter pays a visit, turning his attention from one 'friendly young
lady' to the next, he disturbs the calm for each of them - with
results unforeseen by all . . . Mary Renault wrote this
delightfully provocative novel in 1943 partly in answer to the
despair characteristic of Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness.
The result is this witty and stylish social comedy.
The story of the mythical hero Theseus, slayer of monsters, abductor of princesses and king of Athens. He emerges from these pages as a clearly defined personality; brave, aggressive and quick. The core of the story is Theseus' Cretan adventure.
'The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing.
Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative
feat - Sarah Waters Alexander the Great died at the age of
thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece
to India. Fire From Heaven tells the story of the years that shaped
him. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon,
fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander
politics and vengeance. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught
him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and fuelled
his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of
twelve and commanding Macedon's cavalry at eighteen, by the time
his father is murdered, Alexander's skills have grown to match his
fiery ambition. Books included in the VMC 40th anniversary series
include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of
Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by
Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep
Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca
West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn
by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by
Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor; and Faces
in the Water by Janet Frame
Subtitled, The Heroic Battles of the Greeks and Persians at
Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae, this is a great retelling of
those epic ancient battles which shaped the course of Western
Civilization. All the great characters are there: Darius and
Xerxes, the Persian Kings; the Greeks Themistocles, Alcibiades, and
the Spartan for whom the book is named, Leonides, and many others.
The book begins with the historical roots of the people of Ancient
Greece and how they came to love their freedom more than anything
else. Recommended for ages 9 - 12.
In the story of the great lyric poet Simonides, Mary Renault brings alive a time in Greece when tyrants kept an unsteady rule and poetry, music, and royal patronage combined to produce a flowering of the arts.
Born into a stern farming family on the island of Keos, Simonides escapes his harsh childhood through a lucky apprenticeship with a renowned Ionian singer. As they travel through 5th century B.C. Greece, Simonides learns not only how to play the kithara and compose poetry, but also how to navigate the shifting alliances surrounding his rich patrons. He is witness to the Persian invasion of Ionia, to the decadent reign of the Samian pirate king Polykrates, and to the fall of the Pisistratids in the Athenian court. Along the way, he encounters artists, statesmen, athletes, thinkers, and lovers, including the likes of Pythagoras and Aischylos. Using the singer's unique perspective, Renault combines her vibrant imagination and her formidable knowledge of history to establish a sweeping, resilient vision of a golden century.
“Written with her usual vigor and imagination...Mary Renault has a great talent.”–The New York Times Book Review
Alexander’s beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fueled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon’s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Set in fourth-century B.C. Greece, The Mask of Apollo is narrated by Nikeratos, a tragic actor who takes with him on all his travels a gold mask of Apollo, a relic of the theater's golden age, which is now past. At first his mascot, the mask gradually becomes his conscience, and he refers to it his gravest decisions, when he finds himself at the center of a political crisis in which the philosopher Plato is also involved. Much of the action is set in Syracuse, where Plato's friend Dion is trying to persuade the young tyrant Dionysios the Younger to accept the rule of law. Through Nikeratos' eyes, the reader watches as the clash between the two looses all the pent-up violence in the city.
The Bull from the Sea reconstructs the legend of Theseus, the valiant youth who slew the Minotaur, became king, and brought prosperity to Attica. Chief among his heroic exploits is the seduction of Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, who irrevocably brought about both his greatest joy and his tragic destiny.
|
You may like...
Fast X
Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, …
DVD
R172
R132
Discovery Miles 1 320
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R383
R318
Discovery Miles 3 180
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R383
R318
Discovery Miles 3 180
Violent Night
David Harbour, John Leguizamo, …
DVD
R133
Discovery Miles 1 330
|