House of Odysseus
The breathtaking retelling that brings ancient myth to life
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- 34,99 zł
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- 34,99 zł
Publisher Description
'CLAIRE NORTH BRINGS A POWERFUL, FRESH AND UNFLINCHING VOICE TO ANCIENT MYTH' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller Ariadne
From the author of the critically acclaimed Ithaca - A Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year - comes an exquisite and gripping new tale that breathes life into ancient myth. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before.
On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.
Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.
Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.
Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.
Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.
Praise for the Songs of Penelope series:
'Darkly fascinating, raw and breathtaking' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller Ariadne
'Richly poetic . . . This is an impassioned plea for the lost, disenfranchised queens of ancient Greece, a love letter to the silenced women of history' Booklist
'Penelope is proving to be an outstanding epic hero in her own right. A sensational retelling' Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den
'Everything I've wanted in a retelling: a vibrant cast, full of suspense, told with a phenomenal narrative voice - this is an absolute masterpiece' Sarah Bonner, author of Her Perfect Twin
'Conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies' The Times
'Claire North has set a new standard for Ancient Greek retellings. Absolutely sublime' Hannah Lynn, author of Athena's Child
The Songs of Penelope series:
Ithaca
House of Odysseus
The Last Song of Penelope
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
North (Ithaca) veers between the snarky and the dramatic in her clumsy revisionist take on Greek mythology. Goddess Aphrodite narrates the intrigue on Ithaca, the island kingdom once ruled by Odysseus, who is still making his way back home after the Trojan War. His wife, Penelope, who's been trying to maintain order during his long absence, gets a new challenge after the arrival of Agamemnon's children, Orestes and Elektra. Orestes, the ruler of Mycenae, who'd avenged his father's death by killing his mother, is plagued by the Furies for his matricide, and Elektra seeks guidance from Penelope about the best way to prevent her brother's throne from being usurped. The saga also includes an investigation into a servant's murder, and a twist involving Helen of Troy. North attempts to make Aphrodite relatable by injecting her narration with modern usage, but too often gets mired in clunky prose ("Now I'm open-minded about basically everything in the realms of consensual bodily exploration, and I can see where Zeus was coming from, but even so, I doubt the execution of the act was half as exciting in reality as he thought it was going to be in his overactive imagination"). This falls short of other classical updates, including Jennifer Saint's Atalanta.
