Return to Elysium

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Summary: Story of ancient Greece and Rome
Review: Lucina of Greece was orphaned at a young age and brought up by foster parents; the story begins when she is 13 and is sent to a place called Elysium for study under the tutelage of her philosopher guardian. She is the only woman in Elysium and thought to be very unusual because of her superior intellect. Her life is a battle between cool reason and logic and her own intense psychic abilities, later there is pain because her great strength has little outlet in a female life. She flees Elysium with two companions to the young city of Rome considered by Greeks to be an inferior society. Some years are spent as priestess and oracle giver in a temple until she fakes her own death to escape with a lover and retreats into marriage. Eventually Lucina does return to Elysium for a breath taking ending.

First published in 1947 this is apparently an autobiographical account of one the author's previous lives, but even if you can't accept the idea of this as a past life recollection, at the very least it is a really great read for historical fiction fans, there is an authentic feel to it. Often very witty, the intense psychological explorations stimulate thought about the meaning of life.