In the ancient times before Rome was founded on seven hills, a girl named Lavinia leads a simple life, tending the vestal fires and honoring her family’s household gods with salt and meal. But Lavinia is the daughter of the king of Latium, and it is not long before her father’s allies and rivals begin to fight over who will marry her. Lavinia will not choose among her suitors, though, because her father has heard a prophecy that fortells her marriage to a foreigner - a refugee from the fallen city of Troy who has been commanded by fate to conquer Latium and build a great city there, and plunge Latium into war in the process.
Acclaimed fantasy and science fiction author Le Guin turns her hand to history in this retelling of Vergil’s Aeneid, the epic poem dramatizing the Trojan War and the founding of Rome. In Vergil’s telling Lavinia, fated to marry the hero Aeneas, does not speak a single word. It is up to Le Guin to give voice to this vital character, fleshing out the peaceful world of her youth, the violence into which it descends, and her headstrong will to follow the fates.
Ursula K. Le Guin is the author of the award-winning Earthsea series, as well as children’s books including Catwings and several short story collections. Readers new to her science fiction may be interested in Four Ways to Forgiveness, four stories set in the world of her popular Hainish novels. - Michelle
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