By Mary Renault
Alexander the nice stands by myself as a pacesetter and strategist, and fireplace from Heaven is Mary Renault's unsurpassed dramatization of the early life of his existence. His mom and dad struggle for his or her precocious son's love: On one aspect, his unstable father, Philip, and at the different, his overbearing mom, Olympias. the tale tells of the conqueror's nice bonds—to his horse, Oxhead, and to his dearest pal and eventual lover, Hephaistion—and of the military he instructions while he's slightly an adult.
Coming of age through the battles for southern Greece, Alexander the nice looks in all of his colors—as the fellow who first takes someone's lifestyles at age twelve and who speedily removes his competitors once he involves power—and emerges as a charming, advanced, larger-than-life figure.
Fire from Heaven is the 1st quantity of the Novels of Alexander the good trilogy, which keeps with The Persian Boy and Funeral Games.
This e-book beneficial properties an illustrated biography of Mary Renault together with infrequent photos of the writer.
Read Online or Download Fire from Heaven (Alexander the Great, Book 1) PDF
Best historical fiction books
The 12 months is 1929. long island is governed by way of the intense younger issues: flappers and socialites looking thrills and chasing goals within the anything-goes period of the Roaring Twenties.
Letty Larkspur and Cordelia gray escaped their small Midwestern city for brand spanking new York's glittering city. All Letty wishes is to work out her identify in lighting, yet she quick discovers ny is stuffed with lovely ladies who will do something to be a celebrity. . . .
Cordelia is looking for the daddy she's by no means identified, a guy as notorious for his wild events as he's for his shadowy schemes. in a single day, she enters an international extra exciting and glamorous than she ever may have imagined—and extra harmful. It's a existence somebody might kill for . . . and somebody will.
The merely individual Cordelia can belief is Astrid Donal, a flapper who turns out to have all of it: funds, seems, and the affection of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. yet Astrid's excellent veneer hides a rating of relations secrets.
Across the enormous lawns of big apple, within the illicit speakeasies of long island, and at the blindingly lit phases of Broadway, the 3 girls' fortunes will upward thrust and fall—together and aside. From the recent York occasions bestselling writer of The Luxe comes an epic new sequence set within the dizzying final summer time of the Jazz Age.
The Teleportation Accident: A Novel
If you haven’t had intercourse in many years, it sounds like the worst factor that may ever occur. If you’re dwelling in Germany within the Nineteen Thirties, it most likely isn’t. yet that’s no comfort to Egon Loeser, whose carnal misfortunes will push him from the experimental theaters of Berlin to the absinthe bars of Paris to the physics laboratories of l. a., making an attempt the entire whereas to unravel mysteries: used to be it relatively a care for devil that claimed the lifetime of his hero, Renaissance set dressmaker Adriano Lavicini, writer of the so-called Teleportation gadget?
Counterpointing the tales of the mythical Western cowboy Shorty McAdoo and Harry Vincent, the bold younger screenwriter commissioned to retell his tale in Twenties Hollywood, this novel reconstructs an epic trip via Montana into the Canadian plains, via a gaggle of guys pursuing their stolen horses.
A very good but overlooked novel, 'The General' is the main shiny, relocating – and devastating – word-portrait of an international conflict One British commander ever written, right here re-introduced by way of Max Hastings.
Best recognized for his Hornblower novels, C. S. Forester's 1936 masterpiece follows Herbert Curzon, who fumbled a fortuitous early step at the route to glory within the Boer struggle. 1914 reveals him an honourable, first rate, courageous and fully unimaginative colonel. Survival during the early slaughters during which such a lot of fellow-officers perished then brings him quick promoting. through 1916, he instructions 100,000 British infantrymen, whom he leads during the horrors of the Somme and Passchendaele.
Wonderfully human, this is often the tale of a guy of his time who's whatever yet depraved, but presides over appalling sacrifice and tragedy. In his awkwardness and his marriage to a Duke’s unlovely, unsatisfied daughter, Curzon embodies Forester’s complete powers as a story-teller. Rendered with beautiful compassion are Curzon’s patriotism, diligence, experience of accountability and refusal to yield to problems. but additionally powerfully damned is identical spirit which prompted 100 real-life British generals to function excessive clergymen on the bloodiest human sacrifice within the nation’s heritage. A masterful and insightful examine in regards to the personality of 1914-18’s army commanders, ‘The General’ confirms Forester’s rightful position as one of many most interesting novelists of his iteration.
Additional info for Fire from Heaven (Alexander the Great, Book 1)
Example text
Therefore, we shall spend the day perfecting our manners and reflecting in prayer until what emerges is the sort of young lady Spence would be proud to call her own. " Reprimanded, we sit and resume our meal. "If I weren't a Christian, I should tell her exactly what I think of her," Cecily says to the others as if I can't hear her clearly. "Are you a Christian, Miss Temple? I couldn't be sure," I say. " Cecily turns to Ann. " I have met the devil, and her name is Cecily Temple. The evil frog knows just how to sow fear and doubt in Ann—poor, orphaned Ann, a scholarship student who is only here at a distant cousin's largesse, so that she might work for them when she leaves.
Months ago, the four of us gathered in those caves to read the secret diary of Mary Dowd, which told us of the realms, a hidden, magical world beyond this one that was once ruled by a powerful group of sorceresses called the Order. In the realms, we can make our fondest wishes come true. But there are also dark spirits in the realms, creatures who wish to rule it. Mary Dowd discovered the truth of that. And so did we when our friend Pippa was lost to us forever. "Frightfully cold," Ann says, breaking the silence.
I need to see you immediately. There is a signature, but I don't need to read it. I recognize the handwriting. It belongs to Kartik. CHAPTER THREE KARTIK IS HERE, SOMEWHERE, WATCHING ME AGAIN. This is the thought that consumes me during vespers. He is here and needs to speak to me. Immediately, his note said. Why? What is so urgent? My stomach is a tight fist of fear and excitement. Kartik is back. " I've been so absorbed that I've forgotten to open my prayer book and pretend to follow along. From her position in the front pew, Mrs.