The Golden Mean

A novel of Aristotle and Alexander the Great

By: Annabel Lyon

Narrated by: Mark Hildreth

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Winner of the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
Finalist for the Giller Prize and Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction

The startlingly original first novel--now the basis for the forthcoming Netflix series Alexander--by award-winning writer Annabel Lyon reimagining one of history's most intriguing relationships: that between legendary philosopher Aristotle and his most famous pupil, the young Alexander the Great.

342 BC: Aristotle is reluctant to set aside his own ambitions in order to tutor Alexander, the rebellious son of his boyhood friend Philip of Macedon. But the philosopher soon comes to realize that teaching this charming, surprising, sometimes horrifying teenager--heir to the Macedonian throne, forced onto the battlefield before his time--is a necessity amid the ever more sinister intrigues of Philip's court.

Told in the brilliantly rendered voice of Aristotle--keenly intelligent, often darkly funny--The Golden Mean brings ancient Greece to vivid life through the story of this remarkable friendship between two towering figures--innovator and conqueror--whose views of the world still resonate today.

Critic reviews

“I fell in love with Annabel Lyon’s book The Golden Mean years ago and have been dreaming of telling this story ever since.” —Jacob Tierney, creator of Heated Rivalry

“I think this quietly ambitious and beautifully achieved novel is one of the most convincing historical novels I have ever read.” —Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

“Annabel Lyon’s Aristotle is the most fully realized historical character in contemporary fiction. The Golden Mean engenders in the reader the same helpless sensitivity to the ferocious beauty of the world that is Aristotle’s disease. In this alarmingly confident and transporting debut novel, Lyon offers us that rarest of treats: a book about philosophy, about the power of ideas, that chortles and sings like an earthy romance.”
—Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Jury Marina Endicott, Miriam Toews, R. M. Vaughan

"A wise and thoughtful book." —Giller Prize jury citation

“The style as a whole posesses an often eerie earthiness... This is a novel that stands firmly on its own feet.” —Financial Times

“I absolutely loved The Golden Mean. Annabel Lyon brings the philosophers and warriors, artists and whores, princes and slaves of ancient Macedonia alive, with warmth, wit, and poignancy. Impeccably researched and brilliantly told, this novel is utterly convincing.” —Marie Phillips, author of Gods Behaving Badly

“The Golden Mean, so full of intellect, is a pleasure to read. If excellence is our standard, then this novel will certainly flourish.” —David Bergen, Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning author of The Time in Between and The Retreat

“An exhilarating book, both brilliant and profound. Annabel Lyon’s spare, fluid, utterly convincing prose pulls us headlong into Aristotle’s original mind. Only Lyon’s great-hearted intelligence could have imagined and achieved the brave ambition of this book. Vital, ferocious, and true, The Golden Mean is an oracular vision of the past made present.” —Marina Endicott, author of Good to a Fault

“In Lyon’s clever hands, more than two thousand years of difference are made to disappear and Aristotle feels as real and accessible as the man next door. With this powerful, readable act of the imagination, Annabel Lyon proves that she can go anywhere it pleases her to go.” —Fred Stenson, author of The Great Karoo

"A master of wordplay and storytelling, Lyon takes readers deep into the hearts and secret desires of her characters.... A taut, polished novel that will hold your attention from start to finish. It is at times funny, thought-provoking, sensual and suspenseful."
—The Vancouver Sun

Mark's voice and performance

There are some things that are difficult to hear (and I imagine it must have been difficult to read) because this story is as honest and tragic as it is beautiful and engaging. It is brilliant, but I personally don't consider it to be something to try to fall asleep through. It's the kind of story that turns you all imaginable colors, so you shouldn't play this with the kids around to hear. But, as I've said before, it is a very great story, and--to be honest-- the joy that comes from listening to Mark Hildreth talk tops it all. I hope he reads more in the future.