Fire from Heaven

Mary Renault

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Fire from Heaven was shortlisted for the 1970 Lost Booker Prize. 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.