Fire from Heaven. A Novel of Alexander the Great: Mary Renault

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, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son`s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle`s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer`s Iliad fuelled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon`s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander`s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.