Title : Lavinia
Author : Ursula K. Le Guin
Context : Lavinia is a historical fiction novel by Ursula K. Le. Guin set in ancient Italy. This is a book about war and passion, unemotionally beautiful and generous from the writer who works at the height of her powers. The author gives Lavinia a voice in the novel thus taking the reader to the half wild world of ancient Italy. This was the time when Rome was near seven hills as a muddy village.
Synopsis : Lavinia is the daughter of a king. The hero of Vergil fights In The Aeneid, to claim Lavinia, the daughter of the king with whom he is preordained to found an empire. Lavinia never utters a word herself. Lavinia knows nothing except freedom and peace in her growing up years till the suitors arrive. Her mother likes the ambitious and handsome suitor named Turnus and wishes Lavinia marries him.
However the sacred springs speak about prophecies and omens stating that she should wed a foreigner, that she will be the cause of a bitter war and that the man she marries will not live for long. Trojan ships sail in a fleet up the River Tiber. At this time, Lavinia makes a decision to take destiny into her own hands. And so Lavinia narrates what Vergil has not. She tells her life story and about the love of her life, in this novel.
Other works by the Author :
1966 – Rocannon’s World – Novel
1968 – A Wizard of Earthsea
1969 – The Left Hand of Darkness
1970 – Tombs from Atuan
1971 – The Lathe of Heaven
1972 – Farthest Shore
1972 –The Word for World is Forest
1973 – The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
1974 - The Dispossessed
1985 – Always Coming Home
1990 – Tehanu
2000 – The Telling
2001 – Tales from Earthsea
2001 – The Other Wind
2002 – The Birthday of the World
2003 – Changing Planes
2004 – Gifts
2016 – Words are my Matter :Writings about Life and Books
2018 – The Books of Earthsea
