The Mask of Apollo
On sale
15th January 2026
Price: £10.99
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
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Reviews
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.
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
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
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'
