Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault

£10.99
Available
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9780349018607
Published:
10 Jul 2025
Format:
Paperback
Number of pages:
448 pages
Dimensions:
198x126x22mm
Weight:
0.000kgs
Author:
Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. Killing his first man in battle at the age of 12, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon's cavalry at 18.

'The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat' SARAH WATERS

'The Alexandriad is one of the twentieth century's most unexpectedly original works of art' GORE VIDAL

In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader whose drive and ambition created a legend

Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother and father, Olympias and King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. Hephaistion's love taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. At age twelve, he killed his first man in battle; at sixteen, he became regent; at eighteen, commander of Macedon's cavalry; and by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1970 LOST BOOKER PRIZE. INTRODUCED BY TOM HOLLAND.

'This is not just a novel: it's also the best imagining we are ever likely to have of a man who tore up history' EMILY WILSON, GUARDIAN

'The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the twentieth century' ANTONIA SENIOR, THE TIMES

About the Author: Mary Renault (1905-1983) was born in London and educated at St Hughs, Oxford. She trained as a nurse at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary, where she met her lifelong partner, Julie Mullard. Her first novel, Purposes of Love, was published in 1937. In 1948, after North Face won a MGM prize worth $150,000, she and Mullard emigrated to South Africa. There, Renault was able to write forthrightly about homosexual relationships for the first time - in her masterpiece, The Charioteer (1953), and then in her first historical novel, The Last of the Wine (1956). Renault's vivid novels set in the ancient world brought her worldwide fame. In 2010 Fire From Heaven was shortlisted for the Lost Booker of 1970.

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Number of pages 448

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