The Mask of Apollo
A Virago Modern Classic
Published on 15. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-349-01859-1 (ISBN)
Description
THE ANCIENT GREEK STAGE BROUGHT THRILLINGLY TO LIFE BY THE QUEEN OF HISTORICAL FICTION
'Mary Renault has made the classical era alive' GORE VIDAL
'Her books have stood the test of time' INDEPENDENT
The artist flows into the mask the poet offers him; only so will the god possess him.
Greece, fourth century BC. The golden age of theatre may be over, but Nikeratos still lives and breathes the stage. Finding work with a group of travelling actors, he discovers amongst their dusty props an old, discarded mask of Apollo.
When a violent attack threatens the company mid-performance, the actors must go on: once the show ends, they know their lives are at stake. Seized by inspiration, Niko dons the golden mask and feels the powerful words of Apollo coursing through him - spurring the defenders to victory.
But Greece is racked by political struggles, and as his fame grows Niko finds himself caught in the crossfire, a pawn in a game of tyrants. And all the while, the mask gains power - becoming his conscience, keeper of his secrets and, ultimately, the maker of his gravest choice.
'To Mary Renault, we are all Ancient Greeks, and that is the secret of her novels' brilliance' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON
'Renault has few peers in the art of reconstructing and making utterly convincing the people and places of classical times . . . a superbly controlled performance' NEW YORK TIMES
'An important and wonderful writer . . . she set a course into serious-minded, psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more important than ever' GUARDIAN
'Mary Renault has made the classical era alive' GORE VIDAL
'Her books have stood the test of time' INDEPENDENT
The artist flows into the mask the poet offers him; only so will the god possess him.
Greece, fourth century BC. The golden age of theatre may be over, but Nikeratos still lives and breathes the stage. Finding work with a group of travelling actors, he discovers amongst their dusty props an old, discarded mask of Apollo.
When a violent attack threatens the company mid-performance, the actors must go on: once the show ends, they know their lives are at stake. Seized by inspiration, Niko dons the golden mask and feels the powerful words of Apollo coursing through him - spurring the defenders to victory.
But Greece is racked by political struggles, and as his fame grows Niko finds himself caught in the crossfire, a pawn in a game of tyrants. And all the while, the mask gains power - becoming his conscience, keeper of his secrets and, ultimately, the maker of his gravest choice.
'To Mary Renault, we are all Ancient Greeks, and that is the secret of her novels' brilliance' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON
'Renault has few peers in the art of reconstructing and making utterly convincing the people and places of classical times . . . a superbly controlled performance' NEW YORK TIMES
'An important and wonderful writer . . . she set a course into serious-minded, psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more important than ever' GUARDIAN
Reviews / Votes
Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us. -- Hilary Mantel I never learned Latin or Greek; I wasn't raised on the classics, even in translation. So all my sense of the ancient world - its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault. I turned to writing historical fiction because of something I learned from Renault: that it lets you shake off the mental shackles of your own era, all the categories and labels, and write freely about what really matters to you -- Emma Donoghue Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics. Her characters live vividly both in their own time, and in ours -- Madeline Miller There's much to say about her interweaving of myth and history and, just as interestingly, there's much to wonder at in the way she fills in the large dark spaces where we know next to nothing about the times she describes . . . an important and wonderful writer . . . she set a course into serious-minded, psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more important than ever' -- Sam Jordison * The Guardian *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 123 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
326 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-01859-1 (9780349018591)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2015
Little, Brown Book Group
€3.99
Available for download
Persons
Mary Renault (1905-1983) was born in London and educated at St Hughs, Oxford. She trained as a nurse at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary, where she met her lifelong partner, Julie Mullard. Her first novel, Purposes of Love, was published in 1937. In 1948, after North Face won a MGM prize worth $150,000, she and Mullard emigrated to South Africa. There, Renault was able to write forthrightly about homosexual relationships for the first time - in her masterpiece, The Charioteer (1953), and then in her first historical novel, The Last of the Wine (1956). Renault's vivid novels set in the ancient world brought her worldwide fame. In 2010 Fire From Heaven was shortlisted for the Lost Booker of 1970.