Nightsong
The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A poet journeys into the underworld to rescue his bride
His name is Orpheus, and he is the greatest poet on Earth. With his lyre, he can make music so beautiful it causes the gods to weep, but they are not who he wants to impress. Orpheus has been in love with Eurydice ever since the first time he heard her voice, and to win her love he sings the most beautiful songs in history. On the day of their wedding, when Orpheus feels happiness just within his grasp, Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies. The groom is heartbroken, but undaunted. He will rescue his beloved—even if he must battle death itself.
Orpheus's path is fraught with untold dangers, but he presses on—and a tragic yet beautiful love story emerges from this radical reworking of an ancient tale.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Continuing his retelling of tales from Ovid, Cadnum (Starfall: Phaeton and the Chariot of the Sun) once again breathes life into classic mythological figures. In this novel, highly accessible to middle-schoolers, he introduces the hero Orpheus, focusing on the renowned poet's undying devotion to the beautiful Princess Eurydice. The first time Orpheus hears Eurydice's remarkable singing voice, he falls deeply in love with her. Cadnum paints her as no shrinking violet; she tells the poet, "I have learned not to believe much of what I'm told... By any man." The two are soon engaged to be married, but on their wedding day, Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies immediately thereafter. As the author traces Orpheus's dangerous quest to rescue his bride from Pluto's dark kingdom, Cadnum sharply delineates the contrast between the joys found on earth and the gloom of the underworld. Kind and gentle Orpheus (moved to "tears of compassion" upon witnessing the damned souls of the fallen) emerges as the antithesis of coldhearted Pluto (who imposes the impossible upon Orpheus that Orpheus never once look back at his beloved or lose her forever). Skillfully creating a complex, multidimensional portrait of Orpheus (as well as of other members of the supporting cast, including Persephone and Sisyphus), Cadnum brings new meaning to an ancient romance. Ages 9-12.
