The Praise Singer

"In her latest novel Mary Renault reconstructs the life of the Greek lyric poet, Simonides. Beginning with his childhood on Ceos, she traces his probable career up to the murder of his patron, the tyrant Hipparchus of Athens. The strength of the novel lies in the characterizations and in the wealth of background detail worked into the narrative." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)

Mary Renault was born in London and educated at Oxford. She then trained for three years as a nurse, and wrote her first published novel, Promise of Love. Her next three novels were written while serving in WWII. After the war, she settled in South Africa and traveled considerably in Africa and Greece. It was at this time that she began writing her brilliant historical reconstructions of ancient Greece, including The King Must Die, The Last of the Wine, and The Persian Boy. She died in Cape Town in 1983.