Ithaca: The exquisite, gripping tale that breathes life into ancient myth (The Songs of Penelope)

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I love how each book is narrated from the perspective of a different goddess. Ithaca, told from Hera’s perspective, focused on Penelope as a mother and a queen. In House of Odysseus, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, lets us see Penelope as a woman, someone with passions and desires. Webb was educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, London, and the London School of Economics. [ citation needed] Listen to my voice: I who have been stripped of honour, of power and of that fire that should be mine, I who have nothing to lose that the poets have not already taken from me, only I will tell you the truth. I, who part the veil of time, will tell those stories that only the women tell. So follow me to the western isles, to the halls of Odysseus, and listen.” These are the men of note. We regard them as one might regard a rash – hopeful that it does not spread further – and then move on. This is t he story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca's shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women - and their goddesses - that will change the course of the world.

I really can't praise this book enough. Its an absolute joy to read. Claire North has outdone herself. If only all retellings could be this good (she said wistfully). This will give you a completely different outlook on various goddesses, Spartans in general and Helen in particular. Highly recommended. And suddenly there he was, watching his own broken and ruined body in the dirty alley. In that moment, Kepler knew that he had the power to jump bodies, inhabiting the skin of his hosts, seeing life through their eyes. Claire North's words are needles, and each one is directed at some tender part of the patriarchy in this pointedly feminist revision of The Odyssey. Although Margaret Atwood was on to something when she titled hers The Penelopiad, because Odysseus is hardly present in this one at all... and he is not missed.The story is told from the goddess Hera’s slightly detached perspective. Snarky and often acerbic, Hera brings a unique voice and point of view to the story, and her caustic wit spotlights the inequities between men and women regardless of station, as well as the injustices women face for duty, honor, and the patriarchy. He once heard an old soldier say that fighting clean was for fools. First you survive. Then you make up the story of how."* It is a fiercely feminist book, but it’s not a preachy book. It tells a story that is full of betrayal and scheming, of friendships forged and friendships broken, of goddess and queens, love and death, and of fate and free will. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’s empty throne – not yet. But as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war . . .

You rarely come across concepts this inventive in books these days; at the very least, they are rarely explored this effectively. It is difficult to view Kepler as a hero because, regardless of his intentions, he is stealing entire portions of people’s lives away from them. He is taking from them the opportunity to enjoy the experiences of their lives, leaving behind hollow memories with no emotions attached. Athena loves it when a hunky warrior clad in bronze kneels before her inner sanctum, and when a man violated a woman upon her altar, it was the woman whose hair she turned to snakes in retribution for this sacrilege. So much for the wisdom of Athena."* This is the second part of the trilogy and, if anything much better than Ithaca, which bodes extremely well for the final part which I now can't wait to read. IN Clair North, Catherine Webb is availed an opportunity to branch out into more interesting genres of literature. The student of economics is best known for ‘The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August’, though she has also made a name for herself because of her Gamehouse series of Novellas. In the east, a king rolls restlessly in the arms of Calypso, who hushes him and says, it is just a dream, my love. Everything beyond these shores is just a dream.The best word to describe ‘The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ glacial. The pacing is really slow. Claire North has a tendency to digress, going off the beaten path and distracting from the primary plot with elements that many readers will admit are largely unnecessary.

Above the village, a torch gutters upon the cliffs. It has been only briefly raised, a guide in the night to show these raiders where to go. Now its work is done, and the figure who has held it retreats down the hard stone path towards the inland slumber of the isle, feeling no compunction to stay and witness his work. It would be fair of this fellow to think himself unseen, save by his allies – the hour is late and the hot day had faded to a cool, slumbering dark, suitable for vast snoring and dreamless sleep. How little he knows. 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 When women fight, no man can be left alive. No man can live to tell what they see. No mercy. No quarter." When the others are dead and gone, when Clytemnestra’s body is burnt and Penelope has breathed her last, only Elektra will remain, the last woman to carry my fire. But not yet–not yet." I who have nothing to lose that the poets have not already taken from me, only I will tell you the truth. I, who part the veil of time, will tell those stories that only the women tell.”

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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 The men were driven by pride and a sense of superiority and it was so very nice to see them humbled - especially Agamemnon, Penelope’s most insistent suitor. Through Telemachus we see a young boy desperately trying to be ‘manly’ as his father would have wanted, and assert his importance, yet not knowing quite what it takes to be a warrior. Penelope, despite her son’s fault, despite his reluctance to treat his mother with any ounce of the respect she deserves, loves him nonetheless, which makes their relationship so heartbreaking. In fact North does a fantastic job of exploring motherhood throughout the novel. From the multi-award-winning author Claire North comes a daring reimagining that breathes life into ancient myth and gives voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men. It’s time for the women of Ithaca to tell their tale . . . I know very little about killing, That is the men’s business. But it is the women who come to dress and wail at the corpses when the killing is done, no?" I have a smile on my face after reading this brilliant book. Claire North made me laugh my head off at this excellent re-telling of the Penelopiad.

House Of Odysseus is the second book in The Songs Of Penelope series by award-winning, best-selling British author, Claire North. Perhaps a year after Orestes has slain his mother Clytemnestra on Ithaca’s shores, and Penelope’s son Telemachus has set out to search for his father, a ship quietly arrives from Mycenae into the burnt out harbour of Phenera. Elektra has brought her brother, the newly crowned king of kings, the greatest of the Greeks, seeking the refuge she hopes Penelope will provide. Like Penelope at her loom, North weaves and unweaves, teasing out the threads of Homeric myth to recombine them into something unique, wonderful, and urgently contemporary."— M. R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts From the hard carved road that winds down the terraced valley into what we will grudgingly call a city, Teodora comes. She has given up running; now each footfall is one at a time, counting the steps, forward without a destination, head first, heels twisting, and people scurry to clear a way before her. She carries a bow without arrows, and an old woman walks at her side. Their arrival will only make things harder, but I never shied from trouble. Touch is a little disturbing, and it follows entities called Ghosts that have the power to take over the bodies of other human beings for any amount of time that suits them, be it hours, days, weeks or even years. The idea of being an unwilling victim to a character like Kepler is very unsettling, and it easy to see why people gravitate towards the unique nature of this book.The women of Ithaca have been left alone for almost seventeen years since the men of their island left to fight with King Odysseus at Troy. None have returned, including the King. Penelope married Odysseus when she was very young and was secure in her position. But now that he has been absent, she faces a difficult choice – remarry to remain in power or likely be assassinated. Penelope’s life and country hang in a tenuous balance, and it is up to her cunning and wit to maintain the peace of the kingdom. For a woman to contemplate her own beauty is vanity, superficial pride, shallow beyond contempt, the sign of a mindless slut. Of course for a woman to be anything less than beautiful is for her to be ugly, or in the best case invisible and without merit, and that is also una Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the furies circle him. His uncle Menelaus, the blood-soaked king of Sparta, hungers for Orestes' throne—and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.