Fire from Heaven

Finished March 13

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault

I've had this book on my shelves for a while, but recently reading The Golden Mean, and seeing Lyon mention this book as a recommendation for a different view of the same period drew me to taking it down and reading it. 

This is a book about the younger years of Alexander the Great, told in third person from a variety of viewpoints, including his, and his closest companion's Hephaistion. We see how Alexander grew up close to his mother, encountering Philip less often, and how his training began at a young age, with Aristotle, as he learned alongside other boys his age who were chosen by his father and him. 

We see him become a warrior and participate in a battle where he actively engaged with his opponent. We also see his struggle between his parent's affections and loyalties, and how at one point he withdrew from his father. 

This is a story that is richly detailed, that lets us into the thoughts of many of the characters, but Alexander himself is the main character and it is his life at the center of the story. Because we have access to character's thoughts, they have more depth, and the tone is more emotional at times. 

I enjoyed learning about his life and adventures. The book has a map on the endpapers, but I was sometimes frustrated when places named in the book weren't on the map. 

The Golden Mean

Finished March 2

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

This novel is narrated by Aristotle, the real historical figure, and creates a story around his time with Philip of Macedon, mostly taking place at the city of Pella. Philip had known Aristotle when they were both boys, and Aristotle arrives in Pella carrying a message from Hermias, the satrap of Atarneus under whose patronage Aristotle had been living. 

Along with Aristotle and his household, are his wife Pythias and his nephew Callisthenes. Aristotle soon meets Philip's sons, Arrhidaeus and Alexander, and is asked to work with both of them in very different ways. Arrhidaeus suffered an injury early in his life that damaged him, creating learning disabilities. Alexander is the golden child in many senses, spoiled, used to getting his way, and entitled. Aristotle is one of the few people who challenges him, and that creates an interesting dynamic. Aristotle covers many subjects in his teaching, but at the core of them is the idea of balance, the golden mean referenced by the book's title. 

We see Aristotle's personal life, his relationship with his wife, servants, slaves, and his nephew. We also see his inner thoughts about both this personal life and his more public responsibilities. 

Lyon makes her characters come to life, they have personality and flaws, and she has obviously researched the real people she portrays. 

This was her debut novel, and won the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, as well as being a finalist for the Giller. I found it a compelling read. 

Beautiful Bad

Finished August 5
Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

This psychological suspense novel has three timelines. One takes place on an evening when an emergency call is received at a suburb in Kansas starting with the call. One begins decades before when Maddie worked overseas teaching and writing and first met her now-husband Ian. The other is recent events taking place in Maddie's life, particularly her time with a therapist, leading up to the call she makes.
Maddie always wanted to escape her boring life growing up in small town Kansas. She studied languages, and began working at various jobs overseas. She met her best friend Jo at school where the two connected instantly. Jo became an aid worker, and as their story develops from a time where Jo was working in Macedonia and Maddie in nearby Bulgaria, we see how their estrangement began. It was there they met a number of young men in the British military, one of whom Ian developed a relationship with both women, eventually marrying Maddie as we know from the more recent timeline.
This is another story with unreliable narrators, where we aren't sure who to trust. Why is Jo angry with Maddie, and what happened between them to create the later rift. Do Ian's military and para-military experiences lead him to have violent tendencies? How does his PTSD affect him? What is Maddie's life like with her husband and young son? What happened the night they were camping?
There's a lot going on here, and a lot of uncertainty. All you really know is that something bad has happened, and it isn't over yet.