Best Greek myth retellings (or other mythologies!)

[myladyjane]

so in preparation for going to watch the Odyssey and to shake up my reading a little I thought I’d dip my toe back into some of the Greek myth retellings that were all over the shop a few years ago.

i have read a few but they became a bit ubiquitous. I adored Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller and I have just started a thousand ships by Natalie Haynes which seems great so far.

what else should I look out for? Doesn’t have to be Greek but I want it to be more on the literary fiction than the romantasy side (I saw a review for a Norse retelling, the witches heart, which sounded interesting but then all of the reviews were coming from fantasy related sources and fantasy is really not my thing).

suggestions gratefully recieved.

i really loved Pandora’s jar by Natalie Haynes which discusses the basis for the myths and explores the female characters. Also loved Circe

I've just finished Claire North's trilogy about Penelope - Ithaca, House of Odysseus, and Last Song of Penelope - and it was fabulous. One of the best things I've read in a long time!

Circe by Madeleine Miller-Odysseus appears in this one.

I’ve heard that the Robert Fagles translation of the Odyssey is one of the best, and although I’ve read only two different ones myself I loved that one.

The Silence of the Girls, and The Voyage Home, by Pat Barker. The Trojan War and the Odyssey from the female perspective.

Pat Barker's books are often recommended to me.

If you are interested in reading the Odyssey itself, it is brilliant. I'd recommend Emily Wilson's translation.

Classical literature itself is rich in retellings. Several Greek tragedies centre around the women affected by the Trojan War, among them Trojan Women, Hecuba, and Andromache (Euripides).

Also sticking with classical authors (but a few centuries later), the Roman poet Ovid wrote a series of letters from heroines of Greek myth to men. Here's an extract from Penelope's letter to Odysseus/Ulysses: https://weeklypoems.brookes.ac.uk/2015/06/29/penelope-to-ulysses/.

Till we have faces by CS Lewis.

Latin/ Greek

Such a beautiful book.

The publisher Canongate did a fantastic series called Canongate Myths, essentially comissioned retellings of classical myths. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood was fabulous, as was Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canongate_Myth_Series

I second the Pat Barker retelling also.

ive just started a book called Liturgies of the Wild. The first chapter has made my heart sing for myths and stories. Martin Shaw

As a huge classics fan, I went through a phase of reading a lot of the retellings, pretty much all of them when it seemed to be the big thing in publishing a few years ago. In my view, a couple are excellent, some are fine, many are actively bad!

Madeline Miller is far and away the best writer in this genre - leagues ahead of the next best. So if you haven’t read Circe, you should (great prep to watch the Odyssey too!), and her short stories are brilliant too.

I agree Natalie Haynes is good, I liked Stone Blind as well as A Thousand ships.

I also liked Constanza Casati’s re-telling of Clytemenstra. She’s a good writer and her version of the story is compelling.

I found the first Pat Barker in her Trojan War series enjoyable, and the next two, much less so. I’m afraid I don’t get the fuss that is made over her work in this area. I think her Regeneration trilogy was much better written than her Trojan War trilogy.

Brutally, I wish I hadn’t bothered with any of the other retellings I read.

I agree with pp, if you haven’t read a good translation of the Odyssey (and the Iliad) then they are definitely worth re-visiting.

Leon Garfield’s The God Beneath the Sea is wonderful, with the most amazing illustrations.

Also Mary Renault - The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea. Theseus and the Minotaur myth retold. I adore those two books.

I really enjoyed David Gemmells Troy trilogy

The Stephen Fry retelling is very good on audible.. Odyssey was brilliant I am now listening to Mythos.
I have also read Aridene by Jennifer Saint..such a captivating read

Loads to work through, thank you!

Place marking to come back to, my favourite genre

“Madeline Miller is far and away the best writer in this genre - leagues ahead of the next best. So if you haven’t read Circe, you should”

Was coming on to say this!! Recently read and now one of my favourite novels.

Circe by Madeleine miller is the best. Found her other book too war focused.

I also like Jennifer Saint books too for holiday reads

Yes! And The Women Of Troy which is the second of the trilogy.