The King Must Die: A Virago Modern Classic (Virago Modern Classics)

The King Must Die: A Virago Modern Classic (Virago Modern Classics)

by Mary Renault (Author), Bettany Hughes (Introduction), Mary Renault (Author), Bettany Hughes (Introduction)

Synopsis

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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Publisher: Virago
Published: 05 Mar 2015

ISBN 10: 1844089630
ISBN 13: 9781844089635
Book Overview: The King Must Die retells the story of Theseus, bringing mythology vividly to life.

Media Reviews
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 *
Renault did for Ancient Greece what Hilary Mantel did for the Tudors -- Quentin Letts * The Week *
Author Bio
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.