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A01=Mary Renault
A24=Seán Hewitt
A24=Tom Holland
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Author_Mary Renault
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The Persian Boy: A Novel of Alexander the Great: A Virago Modern Classic

English

By (author): Mary Renault

'One of the greatest historical novels ever written'
SARAH WATERS

'I love to find queer representation in historical fiction. . . Renault's eye for intimacy is amazing'
DOUGLAS STUART

'Fierce, complex and eloquent'
MADELINE MILLER

'Mary Renault is a shining light'
HILARY MANTEL

***

A groundbreaking queer classic and powerful reimagining of the last years of Alexander the Great, told through the eyes of his lover.

I thought, There goes my lord, whom I was born to follow. I have found a king.
And, I said to myself, looking after him as he walked away, I will have him, if I die for it.

Bagoas, abducted as a boy and sold as a eunuch, has been transported to the heart of the Persian court as courtesan to King Darius. But when the Macedon army conquers his homeland, Bagoas finds freedom at the hands of their golden young commander, whose name is already becoming a legend: Alexander.

Their encounter sparks a passionate devotion that shapes the Persian boy's future - and deepens into a relationship that will sustain them both through assassination plots, political intrigue and the threat of Alexander's own restless ambition. This is a spellbinding tale of power, loyalty and loss - a vision of history transfigured by love.

'Nowhere else in fiction have Alexander's beauty and charisma blazed with such potency'
TOM HOLLAND

'Passionate and captivating'
SN HEWITT

'All my sense of the ancient world - its value, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault'
EMMA DONOGHUE

'The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the 20th century'
ANTONIA SENIOR, THE TIMES

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Current price €18.69
Original price €21.99
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A01=Mary RenaultA24=Seán HewittA24=Tom HollandAge Group_UncategorizedAuthor_Mary Renaultautomatic-updateCategory1=FictionCategory=FCCOP=United KingdomDelivery_Delivery within 10-20 working daysLanguage_EnglishPA=AvailablePrice_€10 to €20PS=Activesoftlaunch
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Product Details
  • Weight: 600g
  • Dimensions: 128 x 200mm
  • Publication Date: 18 Jul 2024
  • Publisher: Little Brown Book Group
  • Publication City/Country: United Kingdom
  • Language: English
  • ISBN13: 9780349018553

About Mary Renault

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 $150000 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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