Taking his old father on his back and his young son by the hand, Aeneas flees the sacked and burned city of Troy, entrusted by his goddess mother, Venus, with a daunting mission: to find a new homeland for his people. It will be an arduous journey. Destined to cross and recross oceans, cast upon the shores of Crete, Libya, Sicily, and Italy, Aeneas must forgo the tender love offered by Queen Dido of Carthage, suffer the loss of his closest friends and family, and conquer the warring tribes of Italy. At every turn, unimaginable dangers await him: terrible monsters and giants; supernatural hazards sent by the enraged goddess Juno; and worst of all, an eerie, death-defying descent into the Underworld, where he will be given a glimpse of his Roman descendants' glorious future.
The Roman poet Virgil, inspired by the epic masterpieces of the Greek poet Homer, wrote The Aeneid toward the end of his life and died in 19 B. C. More than two thousand years later, Penelope Lively retells Aeneas's story with pacing, poignancy, and drama, while Ian Andrew's illustrations bring the characters hauntingly to life. Together they create an introduction to The Aeneid for children that will take its place along Rosemary Sutcliff's classic retellings of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Did you find this review helpful?