Tom Holt is famed for modern-day comic fantasies, but his pessimistic wit transferred well to historical fiction in The Walled Orchard (originally published 1989-90 in two volumes), set in ancient Greece. Euxenus, unheroic narrator of Alexander at the World's End, is the grandson of The Walled Orchard's playwright protagonist. He learns the art of fooling people from the wise fraud Diogenes, lives well in Athens as a false prophet with an imaginary demon in a bottle, becomes a popular philosopher-about-town ... and so gets picked for the diplomatic delegation to conquest-hungry King Philip of Macedonia, whose son will be Alexander the Great. Life changes course as Euxenus finds himself (with his loathed rival Aristotle) tutoring this already dangerous boy. History too may have been diverted, with one of Euxenus's dodgy classroom arguments inspiring Alexander's decision to live fast and die young like Achilles. By way of reward the King appoints our hero as founder of a new colony by the Black Sea, where he toils and skirmishes with unfriendly Scythian neighbours. Meanwhile, Philip and then his successor Alexander gobble up the known world. Again and again, Alexander's tactics ironically echo Euxenus's attempts at teaching. Holt's witty narrative and flair for piquant historical details steer us expertly through both grim and comic episodes. A thoroughly enjoyable novel. --David Langford