Book of a lifetime: The King Must Die by Mary Renault

From The Independent archive: Matt Rees on ‘The King Must Die’ by Mary Renault

Renault took the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and constructed a novel of the historical circumstances which may have lain behind it (Getty)

In early 1999, King Hussein fell sick on his return from cancer treatment in the US. I was Middle East correspondent for The Scotsman. Many colleagues with bigger expense budgets were already in Jordan on death watch. I poked through a second-hand bookshop on a narrow lane in Jerusalem, wondering if I ought to go too. I picked up a 1958 edition of The King Must Die by Mary Renault. The title seemed like a good joke to share with my fellow hacks. It decided me. I paid a few shekels for it and went off happily to pack for a trip across the Jordan Valley.

Renault took the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and constructed a novel of the historical circumstances which may have lain behind it. In the novel, the young hero becomes a champion “bull dancer” in Crete, leaping over charging animals, and escapes to become king in Athens. Renault’s sensitive characterisation and historical sense of place hooked me.