I finished recently Mitchison's short story collection Black Sparta and really enjoyed it so bought this novel. It's a prequel to one of the stories in that collection: "Epiphany of Poieësa".

In the last years of the Peloponnesian War, a young man, Alxenor, lives on the island of Poieëssa: an Athenian vassal; [the island is a fiction of the author's]. He has a falling out with both older brother about politics and his best friend, Chromon, about the friend's sister, Moiro, whom Alxenor wishes to marry. His oligarchic brother is amenable to selling out to Sparta and Chromon is a fervent democrat; however Alxenor would like to find a middle way. Alxenor and Moiro escape the island to Athens, are befriended by a ship's captain, who becomes Alxenor's patron, and in whose house the couple marry. A son, Timas, is born to them. We see the democratic post-Pericles Athenian society at that time. Because they fall into penury, they go to Sparta where a Spartan friend from years before takes them in. There they witness a completely sadistic fascist society with everyone slaves to the State. Having become a widower, Alxenor is nearly convinced to put his son into Spartan military training, but is disabused of that when a 'foreigner' [non-Spartan] in the program comes by night and tells him of the harshness and cruelty awaiting his son. Secretly, father and son make a desperate journey from Sparta. If they reach Poieëssa, what sort of reception will they get after Alxenor's five years away? Are there any residual ill feelings?

This very entertaining novel compared and contrasted two diametrically opposed political systems. Written in the 1920s, this novel in a way warned of the rise of a certain totalitarian State. I feel this is an underrated gem. In a sense, it was a Bildungsroman of Alxenor's psychological maturation. It is certainly worth reading and rereading. The 'Introduction' was insightful; I read it both before and after reading the novel. ( )

Cloud Cuckoo Land was on my to-read lists for a few years but it wasn't until I read Diana Wallace's book about historical fiction by British women that I realised it could serve as an interesting point of comparison to Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine as it's set in the approximately same period but on the other side of the conflict, and as a result, I tracked down a second-hand copy.

The protagonist, Alxenor, escapes from his home island when his brother and the other oligarchs support Spartan take-over. He ends up in Athens, marries the sister of his best friend who followed him, they lead a fairly miserable existence, end up in Sparta, then she dies and he escapes again, this time to make his way back home, where some things have changed but others are like they were before. I did enjoy the book and do intend to re-read it at one point or another. ( )