With everyone talking about “The Odyssey” movie, now is a great time to check out these books that give Greek mythology and history a fresh spin, often through the lens of women or other characters who were sidelined in the original tellings, or by changing the action to a different time or place.
Here are ten novels that take their inspiration from The Odyssey, The Iliad and the Trojan War.
Descriptions are from the library catalog unless otherwise noted.
Circe by Madeline Miller
“Follows Circe, the banished witch daughter of Helios, as she hones her powers and interacts with famous mythological beings before a conflict with one of the most vengeful Olympians forces her to choose between the worlds of the gods and mortals.”
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
“When Odysseus finally comes home, he kills her suitors and then, in an act that served as little more than a footnote in Homer’s original story, inexplicably hangs Penelope’s twelve maids. Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids tell their side of the story” from a 21st-century underworld.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Drawing from Homer’s Iliad, in this story “Patroclus, an awkward young prince, follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate. Set during the Trojan War.”
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
“Spanning continents, traversing the earth and cosmic spaces, and told by a narrator who has lived for hundreds of years, the novel is a contemporary twist on Homer’s Odyssey. Writing in the mythic style of the Igbo literary tradition, Chigozie Obioma weaves a heart-wrenching epic about destiny and determination.”
A Thousand Ships: A Novel by Natalie Haynes
“In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen. From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.”
For the Most Beautiful: A Novel of the Women of Troy by Emily Hauser
“How would the Trojan War have looked as seen through the eyes of its women? Krisayis, the ambitious, determined daughter of the High Priest of Troy, and Briseis, loyal and passionate princess of Pedasus, interweave their tales alongside Homer’s classic story of the rage of Achilles and the gods of Olympus. What follows is a breathtaking tale of love and revenge, destiny and the determination, as these two brave women, the heroes of the Trojan War, and the gods themselves come face to face in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Troy.”
Ithaca by Claire North
“Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit and her trusted circle of maids can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive.”
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
“Pat Barker turns her attention to the timeless legend of The Iliad, as experienced by the captured women living in the Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War….Briseis…was queen of one of Troy’s neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece’s greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers….Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war–the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead–all of them erased by history.”
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Like me, you may not have realized that this book (and also the movie), about “a soldier’s perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War,” is actually a retelling of The Odyssey.
The Cassandra by Sharma Shields
“Shields repurposes the Greek myth of Cassandra in this alluring, phantasmagoric story of a clairvoyant secretary working at a secret research facility during WWII.” (Publisher’s Weekly)
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