Mary Renault

Mary Renault (1905–1983) was a British writer. She studied at the University of Oxford and then trained as a nurse at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, where she met her partner, Julie Mullard. Renault published her first novel in 1939. She received the $25,000 MGM Prize for “Return to Night.” In 1948, she emigrated to South Africa with Mullard. She became particularly known for historical novels set in antiquity, including fictional portraits of Socrates, Plato, and Alexander the Great.