Ancient Carthage her rule. Her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the messenger god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido, but to sail to Italy to found Rome. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, she orders a pyre to be built
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon best American writing in 1993. By 2001, the novel had reached "cult" status. One journalist called the work "an acknowledged minor classic". The book made two "best of" lists since it was published. In 1999, the "Boston Phoenix" announced it was the 88th best LGBTQ novel of the 20th century. An organizer for the United Kingdom's Big Gay Read, a follow-up to The Big Read, noted that "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" was the one book that should be added to the first-cut list. "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" was a finalist