Mary Renault

A WWII soldier embarks on affairs with two very different men in a landmark novel that “transcends categorizations” (The Telegraph).
 After being wounded at Dunkirk in World War II, Laurie Odell is sent back home to a rural British hospital. Standing out among the orderlies is Andrew, a bright conscientious objector raised as a Quaker. The unspoken romance between the two men is tested when Ralph, a friend...

By the end of his reign, Alexander the Great had seized control of an empire that extended from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. When he died in 323 BC, a fervent scramble for power ensued. Funeral Games is Mary Renault's remarkable novel of this turmoil and the gradual erosion of the Greek empire. The power players include Ptolemy, two father-son teams, and a cadre of influential women-not least of whom is Eurydike, whose plan is to marry Alexander's...

In The Bull from the Sea, the story of Theseus resumes with the hero's return from Knossos. In the wake of his father's suicide, Athens is now Theseus's to rule. With his close friend Pirithoos, Theseus sets out for the land of the Amazons, falling in love with their beautiful leader, Hippolyta. Her boldness and sense of honor match his own, but though they're happy and bear a son, tragedy lies ahead. The Athenians mistrust the foreign Hippolyta,...

A comprehensive and engrossing biography of Alexander the Great by acclaimed writer Mary Renault The Nature of Alexander is Mary Renault's compelling rendering of the life of one of history's most towering figures. Based on rigorous research and written with narrative panache and stunning historical sweep, Renault's biography provides a fresh look at a man whose legend has remained larger than life for more than two thousand years. From his complicated...

In the fourth century BC, Nikeratos is an actor, a devotee of Plato, and a friend of Dion of Syracuse. Their relationship gives Nikeratos rare proximity to the Greek political stage at a moment when ambitions are about to collide. In Syracuse, the young tyrant Dionysios the Younger rules, but Dion is determined to bring democracy and strength to the city. In an effort to curb Dionysios's excesses, Dion has Plato pose as a tutor-only to learn that...