Achilles

This powerful, passionate, and beautifully crafted retelling of the epic tale of Achilles re-creates Homer's fated hero in a new and striking reality. Born of the Sea nymph Thetis by the mortal King Peleus, and hidden as a girl until Odysseus discovers him, Achilles becomes the Greeks' greatestr warrior at Troy. Into his story comes a cast of fascinating characters—among them, Hector, Helen, Penthiseleia the Amazon Queen, and the centaur Chiron; and finally John Keats, whose writings form the basis of a meditation on the nature of identity and shared experience.

An forgettable and deeply moving work of fiction, Achilles is also an affirmation of the story's enduring power to reach across centuries and cultures to the core of our imagination.

"Cook offers up an inconsistently satisfying curiosity in this little slip of a debut novel....At times the author catches an effect that's just right — that...expands in new words the reader's impression-memories of the classics themselves....Less satisfying, though, is her unimaginative decision to adhere to a narrative view of the gods as 'magic' beings....One craves not such schoolroom retellings but descriptions instead of real people and of the actual human traits that gave rise to the myths....The closing section...is quite beautifully done, though...even here one's sense of being in capable poetic hands is shaken by Cook's curious way elsewhere in the book of resorting to absurdly blunt effects like 'AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!' or 'QUICK! / CLOSE THE GATE. ACHILLES IS COMING.' A mix." Kirkus Reviews

"[It is] of such a soaring, seductive quality that it makes you wonder why human beings ever do anything with their free time but sit in circles, telling great stories....It transforms this ancient story into something that goes straight to the heart of our current questions about the nature of masculinity and the relationship between human beings and the rest of creation. A shining experience, not to be forgotten." Joyce McMillan, Scotsman

"With this brilliantly conceived retelling of the plight of one of Homer's heroes, British writer Cook demonstrates the same skill that has made her poetry and examinations of Renaissance literature so wonderfully memorable....At 128 pages, Cook's tale is tightly woven, and this brevity makes for an extreme reading experience. The genre of retellings of classical epics will surely be reinvigorated by this slim, exceptional interpretation of the heroic fable of Achilles." Publishers Weekly

This powerful, passionate and beautifully crafted retelling of the epic tale of Achilles recreates Homer's fated hero in a new and striking reality. Born of the sea-nymph Thetis by the mortal King Peleus, and hidden as a girl until Odysseus discovers him, Achilles becomes the Greeks' greatest warrior at Troy. Into his story comes a cast of fascinating characters — among them Hector, Helen, Penthiseleia the Amazon Queen and the centaur Chiron; and finally John Keats, whose writings form the basis of a meditation on the nature of identity and shared experience.

An unforgettable and deeply moving work of fiction, Achilles is also an affirmation of the story's enduring power to reach across centuries and cultures to the core of our imagination.

Born of god and king, and hidden as a girl until Odysseus discovers him, Achilles becomes the Greeks' greatest warrior at Troy. This passionate retelling of the epic tale of Achilles recreates Homer's hero in a new and vivid reality.

This powerful, passionate, and beautifully crafted retelling of the epic tale of Achilles re-creates Homer's fated hero in a new and striking reality. Born of the Sea nymph Thetis by the mortal King Peleus, and hidden as a girl until Odysseus discovers him, Achilles becomes the Greeks' greatestr warrior at Troy. Into his story comes a cast of fascinating characters—among them, Hector, Helen, Penthiseleia the Amazon Queen, and the centaur Chiron; and finally John Keats, whose writings form the basis of a meditation on the nature of identity and shared experience.

An forgettable and deeply moving work of fiction, Achilles is also an affirmation of the story's enduring power to reach across centuries and cultures to the core of our imagination.

Elizabeth Cook was born in Gibraltar and raised in Nigeria before moving to England. She has published short fiction and poetry as well as scholarly works on Renaissance literature, and has also written and presented for television and the theatre. Formerly a university lecturer, she has edited the works of John Keats for Oxford University Press. She lives in London.