Ginnie's review
The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault
Along with the two Theseus books and The Mask of Apollo, this is one of my favorites of Renault's classical novels. I also enjoyed The Persian Boy but somehow her other Alexander books didn't move me as much. This astonishing story of two young Athenian males growing up during the last glory days of the Athenian state as it gradually descends into the defeat of the Peloponesian War is unmatched. Side characters include Socrates, Plato, Alkybiades - but they are live characters not stick figures.
