Reviews
"Brilliantly imagined . . . How Pythias emerges with cunning and triumph into young womanhood, even as she conspires to keep herself safe in a rough and dangerous world, forms the triumphant second half of this beautifully made and other-worldly, or I should say ancient-worldly, novel. A world of kings and gods and demons that, at the same time, seems as familiar as our own." -Alan Cheuse, NPR/All Things Considered "Lyon has vividly brought Pythias's fourth century BC world to life . . . This is an entertaining work, full of raw gusto . . . As Lyon portrays her, Pythias is not the 'sweet girl' her father had called her, but resilient and resourceful-a survivor." - Boston Globe "A remarkable novel, not just a pleasure to read but also a book that I expect to reread several times . . . While Woolf's classic book A Room of One's Own remains a brilliant polemic, it is a mere sketch compared to the thickly and quirkily imagined world of ancient Greek women that Lyon gives us in her novel." - National Post (Canada) "Potently elegiac . . . Lyon shows with chilling precision just how quickly a life can unravel . . . She has a knack for intrigue, the sizzle behind seemingly ordinary remarks, and she uses this to great effect." -Madeline Miller, The Guardian (U.K.) "With intoxicatingly earthy descriptions, Lyon conjures a world in thrall to the senses." - Elle "A provocative tale that undoes any romantic delusions a reader might hold about ancient Greek society and thought." - Kirkus Reviews "Exhilaratingly original . . . This novel thrills in its immediacy and the family at its heart, in their love for each other, is instantly, captivatingly real." - Daily Mail (U.K.) "Lyon does a remarkable job of making Pythias, her ancient world, and her eternal problems raw and compelling." - Publishers Weekly "Exceptional . . . Lyon takes readers on a journey they won't soon forget; it includes love, lust, Greek gods and goddesses, mythology, and more . . . Spectacular." - Vancouver Sun (Canada) Reviews for The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon "This quietly ambitious and beautifully achieved novel is one of the most convincing historical novels I have ever read." -Hilary Mantel "[A] vivid imagining of the encounter between Aristotle and the young Alexander the Great . . . Lyon's evocation of the ancient world is earthy and immediate." - The New Yorker "Sensational . . . Not to be missed . . . [It] hooked me as a first novel should, carried me along, and left me determined to read whatever the author writes next . . . Beautifully written." -Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast "It takes chutzpah to make your main characters Aristotle and Alexander the Great, but Lyon pulls it off; she has the gift of finding the pulse of the ancient world and bringing it back to glorious life . . . Gripping, with a powerful sense of time and place." - The Times (U.K.), "Brilliantly imagined . . . How Pythias emerges with cunning and triumph into young womanhood, even as she conspires to keep herself safe in a rough and dangerous world, forms the triumphant second half of this beautifully made and other-worldly, or I should say ancient-worldly, novel. A world of kings and gods and demons that, at the same time, seems as familiar as our own." --Alan Cheuse, NPR/All Things Considered "Lyon has vividly brought Pythias's fourth century BC world to life . . . This is an entertaining work, full of raw gusto . . . As Lyon portrays her, Pythias is not the 'sweet girl' her father had called her, but resilient and resourceful--a survivor." -- Boston Globe "A remarkable novel, not just a pleasure to read but also a book that I expect to reread several times . . . While Woolf's classic book A Room of One's Own remains a brilliant polemic, it is a mere sketch compared to the thickly and quirkily imagined world of ancient Greek women that Lyon gives us in her novel." -- National Post (Canada) "Potently elegiac . . . Lyon shows with chilling precision just how quickly a life can unravel . . . She has a knack for intrigue, the sizzle behind seemingly ordinary remarks, and she uses this to great effect." --Madeline Miller, The Guardian (U.K.) "With intoxicatingly earthy descriptions, Lyon conjures a world in thrall to the senses." -- Elle "A provocative tale that undoes any romantic delusions a reader might hold about ancient Greek society and thought." -- Kirkus Reviews "Exhilaratingly original . . . This novel thrills in its immediacy and the family at its heart, in their love for each other, is instantly, captivatingly real." -- Daily Mail (U.K.) "Lyon does a remarkable job of making Pythias, her ancient world, and her eternal problems raw and compelling." -- Publishers Weekly "Exceptional . . . Lyon takes readers on a journey they won't soon forget; it includes love, lust, Greek gods and goddesses, mythology, and more . . . Spectacular." -- Vancouver Sun (Canada) Reviews for The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon "This quietly ambitious and beautifully achieved novel is one of the most convincing historical novels I have ever read." --Hilary Mantel "[A] vivid imagining of the encounter between Aristotle and the young Alexander the Great . . . Lyon's evocation of the ancient world is earthy and immediate." -- The New Yorker "Sensational . . . Not to be missed . . . [It] hooked me as a first novel should, carried me along, and left me determined to read whatever the author writes next . . . Beautifully written." --Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast "It takes chutzpah to make your main characters Aristotle and Alexander the Great, but Lyon pulls it off; she has the gift of finding the pulse of the ancient world and bringing it back to glorious life . . . Gripping, with a powerful sense of time and place." -- The Times (U.K.), "A provocative tale that undoes any romantic delusions a reader might hold about ancient Greek society and thought." - Kirkus Reviews "A remarkable novel, not just a pleasure to read but also a book that I expect to reread several times . . . While Woolf's classic book A Room of One's Own remains a brilliant polemic, it is a mere sketch compared to the thickly and quirkily imagined world of ancient Greek women that Lyon gives us in her novel." - National Post (Canada) "Potently elegiac . . . Lyon shows with chilling precision just how quickly a life can unravel . . . She has a knack for intrigue, the sizzle behind seemingly ordinary remarks, and she uses this to great effect." -Madeline Miller, The Guardian (U.K.) "Exhilaratingly original . . . This novel thrills in its immediacy and the family at its heart, in their love for each other, is instantly, captivatingly real." - Daily Mail (U.K.) "Lyon does a remarkable job of making Pythias, her ancient world, and her eternal problems raw and compelling." - Publishers Weekly "Exceptional . . . Lyon takes readers on a journey they won't soon forget; it includes love, lust, Greek gods and goddesses, mythology, and more . . . Spectacular." - Vancouver Sun (Canada) Reviews for The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon "This quietly ambitious and beautifully achieved novel is one of the most convincing historical novels I have ever read." -Hilary Mantel "It is testament to Lyon's talent that she has shaped history into a narrative not only gripping, but also accessible and poignant, even tender . . . A novel that is brave enough to raise the universal questions about how a man should live his life." - The Boston Globe "[A] vivid imagining of the encounter between Aristotle and the young Alexander the Great . . . Lyon's evocation of the ancient world is earthy and immediate." - The New Yorker "Splendidly intelligent and entertaining . . . Here's a story that gives us the classical world with everyday liveliness and narrative force, without ever sacrificing intellectual integrity and historical accuracy." -Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered (NPR) "Sensational . . . Not to be missed . . . [It] hooked me as a first novel should, carried me along, and left me determined to read whatever the author writes next . . . Beautifully written." -Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast "It takes chutzpah to make your main characters Aristotle and Alexander the Great, but Lyon pulls it off; she has the gift of finding the pulse of the ancient world and bringing it back to glorious life . . . Gripping, with a powerful sense of time and place." - The Times (U.K.)
