Home > Mary Renault

She was born in London, real name Mary Challans, and educated at St Hugh's College, Oxford, then an all-women's college. She trained as a nurse, but by 1939 she was a published novelist, though she drew on her career experience in her early books. In 1948, after her novel North Face won a MGM prize worth $150,000, she emigrated to South Africa with her partner Julie Mullard, also a nurse. During the 1950s she was active in the Black Sash movement against apartheid.

Her early writing dealt with contemporary subjects, mostly using a wartime setting, but in 1956 she embarked on a series of books set in ancient Greece, including a trilogy about the career of Alexander the Great: Fire from Heaven ( 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January), The Persian Boy ( 19721972 is a leap year starting on Saturday (click link for calendar). Events January events January 2 the Pierre Hotel Heist Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Loot is at least $4 million January 5 President of the Un) and Funeral Games ( 1981Events January-February January Sarawak Chamber found January 1 Greece enters the EEC January 1 Palau becomes self-governing January 4 Sheffield police arrests Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper January 16 Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette D). Although not a classicistClassical education as understood and taught in the middle ages of western civilization is roughly based on the ancient Greek concept of Paideia. China had a completely different tradition of classical education, based in large part on Confucian and Taois by training she was admired in her day for her scrupulous recreations of the Greek world; her sympathetic treatment of love between men also won her a wide gay readership.

1 Bibliography

• Purposes of Love (US title: Promise of Love) ( 1939)
• Kind Are Her Answers ( 1940Events January-February January 5 FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time. January 6 World War II: Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the Poznan, Warthegau. January 12 World War II: Russia bombs cities in Finland. February 2 F)
• The Friendly Young Ladies (US title: The Middle Mist) ( 1945Events January January 5 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. January 7 British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. January 12 World War II:)
• Return to Night ( 1947Events January January 1 British mines nationalized January 1 Nigeria gains limited autonomy January 1 The Canadian Citizenship Act went into effect January 3 Proceedings of the United States Congress are televised for the first time. January 10 United Na)
• North Face ( 1948)
• The Charioteer ( 1953)
• The Last of the Wine ( 1956) — set in the Peloponnesian War
• The King Must Die ( 1958) — about the legendary/mythic Theseus
• The Bull from the Sea ( 1962) — sequel to The King Must Die
• Lion in the Gateway ( 1964)
• The Mask of Apollo ( 1966)
• Fire from Heaven ( 1969)
• The Persian Boy ( 1972)
• The Nature of Alexander ( 1975) — non-fiction
• The Praise Singer ( 1978)
• Funeral Games ( 1981)

The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea have been adapted as an 11-part BBC Radio 4 serial entitled The King Must Die.