Wow, Ursula Le Guin can seriously write classical women. Known as the iconic woman of sci-fi, Le Guin is perhaps less well known for some of her novels that sit outside that genre. In Lavinia, (2008) Le Guin gives Aeneas’s last wife, Lavinia of Latium a voice. Through Le Guin’s prose, Lavinia comes to life, a dynamic and pious woman of ancient Bronze Age Italy. In wildly clever ways Le Guin plays with Vergil’s Aeneid* bringing classical Italy to life for modern readers. One doesn’t need to reach the afterword of this novel to understand Le Guin’s deep reverence for Vergil’s poetry; Lavinia is an ode to the great Roman poet that develops the relatively undeveloped character of Lavinia in the Aeneid.