Order of Book Series
0

Mary Renault Books in Order

Mary Renault has written 17 books, published between 1939 and 1981. The first book is Purposes of Love (1939) and the newest is Funeral Games (1981). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
17
Published
1939–1981
Pages on record
4,135 in 12 of 17 books
Reading time
69–103 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,135 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 12 of 17 titles with a page count on record.

See all 17 books in order Printable Mary Renault checklist
Photo of Mary Renault, author

Mary Renault was the pen name of Eileen Mary Challans, a British novelist best known for historical fiction set in ancient Greece. Renault studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, worked as a nurse and began with contemporary romances such as Purposes of Love (1939). The ancient-Greek novels followed, among them The Last of the Wine (1956) and The King Must Die (1958), which opens the Theseus series. A move to South Africa in 1948 with her partner, Julie Mullard, let Renault write openly gay characters away from English censorship. The Alexander the Great novels close the 17-title catalogue at Funeral Games (1981).

How many Mary Renault books are there?

Mary Renault has 17 books, released between 1939 and 1981. They include 2 series and 12 titles listed outside any series.

Mary Renault Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 17 Mary Renault books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Kind Are Her Answers by Mary Renault (1947)
  2. Cover of North Face by Mary Renault (1948)
  3. Cover of The Charioteer by Mary Renault (1953)
  4. Cover of The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault (1956)
  5. Cover of The King Must Die by Mary Renault, book 1 of the Theseus series (1958)
  6. Cover of The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault (1966)
  7. Cover of Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault, book 1 of the Alexander the Great series (1969)
  8. Cover of The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, book 2 of the Alexander the Great series (1972)
  9. Cover of The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault (1975)
  10. Cover of The Praise Singer by Mary Renault (1978)
  11. Cover of Promise of Love by Mary Renault (1978)
  12. Cover of Funeral Games by Mary Renault, book 3 of the Alexander the Great series (1981)
  1. 1
    Purposes of Love1939 · 400 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1939400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Friendly Young Ladies1943 · 288 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1943288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Kind Are Her Answers1947 · confirmed 2/4
    1947–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Return to Night1947 · confirmed 2/4
    1947–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    North Face1948 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1948320
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Charioteer1953 · 347 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953347
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Last of the Wine1956 · confirmed 2/4
    1956–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The King Must DieTheseus #11958 · 339 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1958339
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Bull from the SeaTheseus #21962 · 362 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1962362
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Lion in the Gateway1964 · confirmed 2/4
    1964–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Mask of Apollo1966 · 371 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1966371
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Fire from HeavenAlexander the Great #11969 · 375 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1969375
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Persian BoyAlexander the Great #21972 · 419 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1972419
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Nature of Alexander1975 · 276 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1975276
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    The Praise Singer1978 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1978256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Promise of Love1978 · 382 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1978382
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Funeral GamesAlexander the Great #31981 · confirmed 2/4
    1981–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Mary Renault books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Alexander the Great in order

3 books
  1. 1. Fire from Heaven
  2. 2. The Persian Boy
  3. 3. Funeral Games

Theseus in order

2 books
  1. 1. The King Must Die
  2. 2. The Bull from the Sea

Standalone books

12 books

12 Mary Renault titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Mary Renault Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Mary Renault books run from Purposes of Love (1939) to Funeral Games (1981), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Mary Renault in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Mary Renault books in order?

You only need to read Mary Renault books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Mary Renault

Start with Purposes of Love (1939), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Mary Renault book?

Funeral Games (1981) is the newest Mary Renault book released so far.

Is there a new Mary Renault book coming?

No next Mary Renault book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Award nominations for Mary Renault

Wikidata records 1 nomination for Mary Renault. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

Mary Renault at a glance

Died
Mary Renault died in 1983, according to Wikidata.
Last book
The newest book credited to Mary Renault on record dates from 1981.
Release pace
Mary Renault books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
4,135 pages across the 12 of 17 books with a recorded length, a median of 354 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Mary Renault books, 4 of 17, were published in the 1970s.

What the Mary Renault books are about

16 of the 17 Mary Renault books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: history is tagged on 8 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.