Today’s post will be short, as I have mentioned this author before, in a review, and have only read one of her books. She has, at this stage, only written two novels anyway, though another one, Mestra, is coming in September 2026, and she has done a short story, Galatea, published individually as an ebook and audiobook. I have been advised several times to get around to reading The Song Of Achilles, which, by the way, took her ten years to write, but for now, I’ll stick to the book I have actually read, Circe.
All of her work seems to be centred within the world of Greek mythology, There are quite a few novels with a Greek mythology theme, but they are not all fantasy as such. Mary Renault’s Theseus novels, for example, explain how he might have been in the real world, and there is even a reference to the historical Thera explosion.
Circe is not historical fiction. It’s straight Greek myth. Circe, the heroine of this novel, the sorceress whom Odysseus meets in The Odyssey, is the daughter of the Sun god Helios. Her sister is Pasiphae, wife of King Minos and mother of the bull-headed Minotaur - literally. No attempt is made to explain that he is anything else. Her brother is Aeetes, of Golden Fleece fame. Medea is her niece. She turns nymph Scylla into the horrible sailor-eating monster we know from mythology as revenge for sleeping with Circe’s boyfriend, the sea god Glaucus.
And so this Circe lives her way through the myths we know. She takes lovers such as Odysseus and Hermes. She has a very good reason for turning men into pigs(not a long way to go!). She helps Penelope when Odysseus has turned out not to be nice after all.
Despite her poor reputation im the myth, Circe seems to be the only decent person in her family.
The novel doesn’t mess around with the Greek myths; everything in this story happened in the myths.
The book has won or been shortlisted for several awards. It’s easily available in ebook or print.
Here is a link to my review of the novel.
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2018/05/just-finished-reading-circe-by.html
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