Mary Renault

Author Information
Mary Renault's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    15 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1934
  • Latest Book:
    November 1981
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Full Series List in Order

Alexander the Great

1 - Fire from Heaven (Nov-1969)
2 - The Persian Boy (Oct-1972)
3 - Funeral Games (Nov-1981)

Book List in Order: 15 titles

  • The Promise of Love // Purposes of Love

    Mary Renault’s inventive debut novel: A love-triangle drama set against the backdrop of hospital life Working in a hospital in 1930s Britain, two colleagues fall into an emotionally charged relationship. Vivian and Mic work demanding jobs and mu...

  • The Middle Mist // The Friendly Young Ladies

    Set in 1937, The Friendly Young Ladies is a romantic comedy of off-Bloomsbury bohemia. Sheltered, naïve, and just eighteen, Elsie leaves the stifling environment of her parents’ home in Cornwall to seek out her sister, Leo, who had run awa...

  • Return to Night

    Winner of an MGM prize: A doctor finds love with a talented, handsome younger man--who happens to be her patient Hilary Mansell is a talented young doctor, but she is unlucky in love and still recovering from losing out on a keenly sought appointm...

  • Kind Are Her Answers

    An “extraordinarily moving” novel about a doctor trapped between his wife and his lover, by a New York Times"bestselling author (Boston Herald).  Doctor Kit Anderson is starting to see his marriage in a new light. Relations are strained with J...

  • North Face

    Two wary souls find a second chance at love while rock climbing in the English countryside in this novel from the New York Times"bestselling author.  On vacation in the North Devon countryside, Neil Langton looks back on the wreckage of his past. ...

  • Charioteer

    After surviving the Dunkirk retreat, Laurie Odell, a young homosexual, critically examines his unorthodox lifestyle and personal relationships, as he falls in love with a young conscientious objector and becomes involved with a circle of world-weary ...

  • The Last of the Wine

    In The Last of the Wine, two young Athenians, Alexias and Lysis, compete in the palaestra, journey to the Olympic games, fight in the wars against Sparta, and study under Socrates. As their relationship develops, Renault expertly conveys Greek cultur...

  • The King Must Die

    'Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics. Her characters live vividly both in their own time, and in ours' MADELINE MILLER 'I never learned L...

  • The Bull from the Sea

    ''Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-f...



  • The Mask of Apollo

    Set in fourth-century B.C. Greece, The Mask of Apollo is narrated by Nikeratos, a tragic actor who takes with him on all his travels a gold mask of Apollo, a relic of the theater's golden age, which is now past. At first his mascot, the mask graduall...

  • Fire from Heaven

    Alexander the Great - 1

    The story of young Alexander the Great. 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...

  • The Persian Boy

    Alexander the Great - 2

    “It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half-man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior.”"The Atlantic Monthly

    The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander’s life through the eyes of his lover...

  • The Nature of Alexander

    An “intriguing and invaluable” biography of Alexander the Great by the novelist whose fiction redefined Ancient Greece (The New York Times). Acclaimed writer Mary Renault is widely known for her provocative historical novels of Alexander the Grea...

  • The Praise Singer

    In her latest novel of ancient Greece, Mary Renault turns to the world of the poet-the bard who since the time of Homer had sung his verses from memory for the occasions of the court. This is the life of Simonides, who live in sixth-century Greece du...

  • Funeral Games

    Alexander the Great - 3

    Alexander the Great lies dying. Around his body gather the generals, the provincial satraps and the royal wives, already competing for power and land. Only Bagoas, the Persian boy who loved him, wants nothing. In the struggle for succession, it seems...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Mary Renault has published 15 books.

Mary Renault does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Funeral Games, was published in November 1981.

The first book by Mary Renault, The Promise of Love // Purposes of Love, was published in January 1934.

Yes. Mary Renault has 1 series.
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