written by Jennifer Saint, Book 33, 2021
Clever and passionate women who scrubbed floors and tended fires, and wove cloth, and pounded soiled linen on the banks of the rivers while men played dice in the squares and talked at length of philosophy drinking wine in the afternoon sun and arranging the world to suit themselves. These women took to the wide blue sea in their rickety vessels searching for something better which they had heard they would find with us.
Jennifer Saint, Ariadne
I could not put this book down. What little I knew of Ariadne, I learned from a middle school mythology unit and the novel Circe by Madeline Miller. I knew next to nothing of Circe’s sister Phaedra. From a quick google search, it seems like Jennifer Saint stayed fairly true to the understood paths. If you’re like me and you enjoy a retelling from a women’s perspective, you’ll love this. As much as I love when authors subvert the original story more, Saint’s version of the myths still felt complex and novel. The narration was also excellent and compelling.
Recommendations: Would highly recommend to any mythology fan, and especially those who enjoyed Circe and Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
Content Warnings: Death, animal cruelty, abandonment, substance abuse, infanticide, bestiality
Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the audiobook.