Fire from Heaven

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, 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.

Shortlisted for the 1970 Lost Booker Prize

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. The language may seem a bit florid at first – a little too "historical novel" – but set all snobbery aside: this is wonderful, scholarly, top-flight stuff - Emily Wilson, Guardian

The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the 20th century... it represents the pinnacle of [Renault's] career... Renault's skill is in immersing us in their world, drawing us into its strangeness, its violence, and beauty. It's a literary conjuring trick like all historical fiction – it can only ever be an approximation of the truth. But in Renault's hands, the trick is so convincing and passionately conjured - Antonia Senior, The Times