Theocritus and the Invention of Fiction Book

I lived with this book for several years while writing "Lady Godiva and Me" and it was endlessly fascinating, provocative and useful. It not only investigates the historical reality behind the legend, (no, she probably didn't) discussing what life would have been like for an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman whose legal standing was probably theoretically better than any of her descendants until the twentieth century (hence she didn't need to), but it follows the story though its numerous retellings to Tennyson and beyond.

Although a scholarly book it is very easy to read and both thought provoking and entertaining, offering a wide range of related themes to follow up. I plundered his bibliography and it leads to some fascinating places.

An excellent example of following a story through all its cultural reincarnations across time even if you aren't interested in a fictional story about naked women riding round a non existent town.