The King Must Die

INTRODUCED BY BETTANY HUGHES
I know I thought of many things: of death, and fate, and what the gods want of man . . .
The true parentage of Theseus, grandson of the King of Troizon, has always been shrouded in mystery. Rumours swirl that his father is Poseidon himself. But when he learns the truth - that he is the son and heir of Aegeus, King of Athens - Theseus sets out on a quest to claim his birthright. But his journey is a perilous one, from encounters with bandits to marriage to the Queen of Eleusis, whose consort is sacrificed each year, and, finally, to the labyrinthine palace of King Minos on Crete. There Theseus must enlist the help of high priestess Ariadne in a darling plan to slay the Minotaur - and free his people.
'Fierce, complex and eloquent' MADELINE MILLER
'All my sense of the ancient world - its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault' EMMA DONAGHUE
'This brilliant retelling of the story of Theseus, the king of Athens, brings Greek mythology vividly to life' New York Times

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.