Fire from Heaven
A Novel of Alexander the Great: A Virago Modern Classic
- Author
Regular price
£10.99
Regular price
Sale price
£10.99
Unit price
per
'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 and father, Olympias and King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. Hephaistion's love taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. At age twelve, he killed his first man in battle; at sixteen, he became regent; at eighteen, commander of Macedon's cavalry; and by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1970 LOST BOOKER PRIZE. INTRODUCED BY TOM HOLLAND.
'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' EMILY WILSON, GUARDIAN
'The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the twentieth century' ANTONIA SENIOR, THE TIMES
'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 and father, Olympias and King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. Hephaistion's love taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. At age twelve, he killed his first man in battle; at sixteen, he became regent; at eighteen, commander of Macedon's cavalry; and by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1970 LOST BOOKER PRIZE. INTRODUCED BY TOM HOLLAND.
'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' EMILY WILSON, GUARDIAN
'The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the twentieth century' ANTONIA SENIOR, THE TIMES
Not available for shipping to the following countries:
- American Samoa
- Guam
- Northern Mariana Islands
- United States Minor Outlying Islands
- Micronesia, Federated States of
- Marshall Islands
- Philippines
- Puerto Rico
- United States of America
- Virgin Islands, U.S.
- Published: Jul 10 2025
- ISBN: 9780349018607
Press Reviews
- Hilary Mantel
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-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us
- Sarah Waters
The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat
- Emma Donoghue
All my sense of the ancient world - its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault. I turned to writing historical fiction because of something I learned from Renault: that it lets you shake off the mental shackles of your own era, all the categories and labels, and write freely about what really matters to you
- Madeline Miller
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
Antonia Senior
The TimesThe 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.
- The Times
Renault's skill is in immersing us in their world, drawing us into its strangeness, its violence and beauty . . . a literary conjuring trick . . . so convincing and passionately conjured
