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The Praise Singer
A Virago Modern Classic
Series: Virago Modern Classics
Brief Description
AN ODYSSEY OF ART AND POWER, BY THE CLASSIC QUEEN OF ANCIENT GREEK RETELLINGS'Mary Renault is an exceptional storyteller' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON'A song of praise, a work of love, a serene, deliberate book, full of wisdom, rich in character, incident and description' WALL STREET JOURNALEach generation has...
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The Praise Singer
$2799
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Unavailable
A timeless historical novel about poetry, music and power by the classic queen of Ancient Greek retellings
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Description
AN ODYSSEY OF ART AND POWER, BY THE CLASSIC QUEEN OF ANCIENT GREEK RETELLINGS'Mary Renault is an exceptional storyteller' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON'A song of praise, a work of love, a serene, deliberate book, full of wisdom, rich in character, incident and description' WALL STREET JOURNALEach generation has its own dream of beauty. I have lived long enough to watch it change.At a local wedding on the isle of Keos, farmer's son Simonides is mesmerised by the performance of a renowned Ionian bard. Simonides' own voice is as beautiful as his appearance is ugly, yet his singing has been confined to hours spent alone in the mountains. But now, seeing a way to a new life, he begs to become the singer's apprentice.Before long, his fame propels him to the heart of classical Greece in fifth century BC - a time of political upheaval, of Athenian tyrants, Persian invaders and pirate kings. As art and power intertwine, Simonides must use all his wit and talent to compete with his flamboyant rival, Anacreon, and keep his songs alive.'Her characters live vividly in their own time, and in ours' MADELINE MILLER'As a historical novelist witing about the ancient world, Mary Renault has few peers' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Series: Virago Modern Classics
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780349018621
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 15 January 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Virago Press Ltd
Contributors:
- Introduction by Charlotte Mendelson
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 126.0mm
Height: 196.0mm
Weight: 230g
Pages: 288
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.
Also by Mary Renault
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