The King Must Die; The Bull from the Sea: Introduction by Daniel Mendelsohn

By Mary Renault

Book Overview

A hardcover omnibus edition of the two classic novels in which Mary Renault brilliantly recreated the legendary hero Theseus and his defeat of the Minotaur. CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS.

In her inventive novels of ancient Greece, Mary Renault performs the alchemical feats of fashioning from the myth of Theseus a convincingly flawed hero and of weaving a thrillingly plausible account of the events that inspired the fantastical tale of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.

The King Must Die follows young Theseus from his mystery-shrouded birth and youthful insecurity about his small size, through his growing strength and ingenuity to a dawning belief in his destiny. When teenaged Theseus sets out to join his true father, the King of Athens, he is delayed by unforeseen adventures: first by a perilous forced sojourn in the matriarchal society of Eleusis and next when he volunteers to join the annual tribute of Athenian youths sent to be sacrificed to a bull-worshipping cult on the island of Crete. Once trapped in the labyrinthine palace of King Minos, Theseus enlists the help of the high priestess Ariadne in a daring plan to free the Athenians forever from the dominance of Crete.

The Bull from the Sea begins after Theseus's triumphal return to Athens, where he finds that his father has died and he is now king. But his confidence in his divinely ordained destiny will be shaken by the adventures yet ahead of him: a life-changing encounter with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons; the birth of a son who will insist on choosing his own path; and the tragic results of his wife Phaedra's treachery. Combining her deep understanding of the cultures of the ancient Greek world with inspired speculation, Renault brings the heroes and monsters of legend enthrallingly to life.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Contemporary Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593535634
• ISBN13: 9780593535639
• Release Date: October 2022
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 632 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

My most reread historical fiction

Mary Renault's historical fiction books are classics. Good literature with a wonderful sense of metaphore. She stays very close to, then enhances, mythical "history." Character development is excellent and her style is descriptive, yet not with the overpowering self-indulgence of some modern authors that tends to get in the way of the story. Incidentally, the jacket art of this (these two)books suggests children's literature. It is not.