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A fresh take on what follows Homer’s The Odyssey by the international best-selling author of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood.
Penelope. Immortalised in legend and myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband's return.
Now Penelope wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story - a tale of lust, greed and murder.
The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.
Fabulous . . . Determinedly irreverent
A witty desecration . . . Atwood plays with vigour and ingenuity
Atwood takes Penelope's part with tremendous verve . . . she explores the very nature of mythic story-telling
— MARY BEARD
Pragmatic, clever, domestic, mournful, Penelope is a perfect Atwood heroine
Half Dorothy Parker, half Desperate Housewives
Atwood and all authors named above are able to grasp the female experience perfectly in myths dominated by men, creating beautifully rounded and realistic characters from those created as ornaments and prizes by Homer
— The Courier
Nothing short of genius
Atwood takes Penelope's part with tremendous verve . . . she explores the very nature of mythic story-telling