Lavinia

Description

'Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn't be given, wouldn't be taken, but chose my man and my fate. The man was famous, the fate obscure; not a bad balance.' Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a victorious warrior who loves peace; she is her father's closest companion. Now of an age to wed, Lavinia's mother favours her own kinsman, King Turnus of Rutulia, handsome, heroic, everything a young girl should want. Instead, Lavinia dreams of mighty Aeneas, a man she has heard of only from a ghost of a poet, who comes to her in the gods' holy place and tells her of her future, and Aeneas' past ...If she refuses to wed Turnus, Lavinia knows she will start a war - but her fate was set the moment the poet appeared to her in a dream and told her of the adventurer who fled fallen Troy, holding his son's hand and carrying his father on his back.

Promotion info

Ursula Le Guin is one of the world's best writers, and LAVINIA is being hailed as her magnum opus LAVINIA is a return to le Guin's love of the classics, an exploration of a little-known but fascinating character in Vergil's AENEID Le Guin's first adult novel for a decade: a real coup for the Gollancz list LAVINIA is Le Guin at the top of her game: compelling, readable, dramatic Critical acclaim is immense:'Brilliant reimagining of the last six books of Virgil's epic poem, this beautiful and moving novel is a love offering to one of the world's great poets. Highly recommended'(LIBRARY JOURNAL starred); 'Arguably her best novel, and an altogether worthy companion volume to one of the Western world's greatest stories' (KIRKUS starred); 'Elegant and eloquent' (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY); 'Compulsively readable...a winning combination of history and mythology featuring an unlikely heroine imaginatively plucked from literary obscurity' (BOOKLIST)

Author description

Ursula Le Guin has won many awards, including a National Book Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Newbery Honor and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.