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Lavinia

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Lavinia

By: Ursula K. Le Guin
Narrated by: Imogen Church
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About this listen

Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn't be given, wouldn't be taken, but chose my man and my fate. The man was famous, the fate obscure; not a bad balance.

Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a victorious warrior who loves peace; she is her father's closest companion. Now of an age to wed, Lavinia's mother favours her own kinsman, King Turnus of Rutulia, handsome, heroic, everything a young girl should want. Instead, Lavinia dreams of mighty Aeneas, a man she has heard of only from a ghost of a poet, who comes to her in the gods' holy place and tells her of her future and Aeneas' past....

If she refuses to wed Turnus, Lavinia knows she will start a war - but her fate was set the moment the poet appeared to her in a dream and told her of the adventurer who fled fallen Troy, holding his son's hand and carrying his father on his back....

©2020 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group Fantasy Historical Fiction Fiction King Royalty War

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Critic reviews

"An exceptional combination of history and mythology - an intriguing, luxuriously realised novel." (Financial Times)

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What an amazing book. I’d heard good things about it, but wasn’t really feeling in the mood for Greek/Roman mythology so I started it feeling like it was a bit of a chore. I was so wrong! It had me gripped within the first minute!

Plot and writing were both subtle and beautiful, and it was unexpectedly refreshing to centre a woman’s perspective within the confines of ancient mythology.

Lavinia was all beautifully and emotionally read in this version. I always find this to be particularly important in ancient myth, as I suppose the stories would have been told in the oral tradition. Listening rather than reading seems appropriate!

Just brilliant!

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A slow start, but once it got going I enjoyed it thoroughly. Definitely recommended.

Great story; excellent narrator.

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